Remember the Val Kilmer hit "The Steam Experiment"? It's also known as "The Chaos Experiment". This mega blockbuster broke all the box office records, revived Val's career and launched the production company, West Bay One into the cutting edge of movie distribution. Well...actually, we're just kidding. Few people have heard of "The Steam Experiment", Val's career is still in the toilet, and West Bay One's reputation has taken a nose dive. Why?

Back on March 22, 2010, West Bay One and the US Copyright Group filed 2,000 "John Doe" copyright complaints against unknown BitTorrent users suspected of sharing "The Steam Experiment". While many were shocked at the scope of the lawsuit campaign, many more were surprised that the plaintiffs were able to find that many people interested in the movie. This is just one of several odd-ball movies, mostly independent, that are the focus of a massive lawsuit campaign aimed at draining money from suspected BitTorrent file-sharers. The effort is driven by the desire to create an alternative revenue stream for these production companies; however, since these complaints have been filed they have been tied up in procedure.

On July 27, the plaintiffs amended their initial complaint, this time listing 1,653 IP addresses, and cross referencing them to the movie title and ISP used by the alleged infringer.

By identifying the IP addresses of the suspected individuals, the US Copyright Group can now subpoena the ISPs and demand the release of their identifiable information. But this is no easy task. The plaintiffs in this case have been battling the ISPs for better cooperation – but so far that has come at a great price. While some like Charter Communications and Verizon have readily given up their customer’s information, some of the heavy hitters, like Time Warner Cable have given various levels of opposition. Time Warner Cable has provided the greatest opposition, much to the distain of the US Copyright Group.

Additionally, the judge overseeing this case has restricted the amount of IP address processing to only 28 per month - further slowing down the lawsuit juggernaut.

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Date: 2010-07-29 Source: http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=2009