Andre Yoskowitz
2 Oct 2011 0:55
Earlier this year, Voltage Pictures filed a lawsuit against 24,583 defendants for allegedly downloading and sharing pirated copies of the Oscar-winning picture "The Hurt Locker."
Today, the studio has let 22,000 of those defendants off the hook, voluntarily dismissing them "without prejudice."
Voltage will still seek damages from the remaining 2500 defendants, although many of those being sued still have not been identified positively. The studio continues to work with ISPs to link the IPs correctly.
The studio had 120 days to serve them with papers, but many of the anonymous defendants filed motions with their ISPs, slowing the process to a crawl.
Via VentureBeat, the recent filing says:
In circumstances where a Doe [unidentified] defendant has not filed the motion and only sent it to the ISP, most ISPs withhold the identifying information so that the Doe defendant can then file the motion with the court. Further, plaintiff's counsel has been informed by the ISPs that numerous Doe defendants have recently re-filed their motions or have filed motions for reconsideration of the Court's prior rulings.