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Friends still there for you (at $20 bucks a download)

Warner Brothers issuing $20 fines to avid fans of Friends illegally downloading the sitcom.

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Warner Brothers studio has been issuing $20 fines to avid fans of Friends who have been illegally downloading the 1990s sitcom.

TorrentFreak reports the studio has been targeting individual users of pirate sites reminding them they are breaking the law, and demanding money.

“Although WB understands and appreciates that you are a fan of its content, the unauthorized uploading and downloading of its copyrighted content is a serious matter,” the notice reads.

“Your ISP service could be suspended if this matter is not resolved. You could also be liable for substantial civil penalties for copyright infringement.

“The damage to WB from your conduct substantially exceeds $20, but in the interest of having you stop your infringement of WB content permanently, WB is prepared to make you this settlement offer,” the notice explains.

Voltage Pictures LLC recently won a landmark case in Australia which will see some ISPs hand over subscriber details of those who allegedly pirated Dallas Buyers Club.

iiNet is working with a law firm that has offered to provide pro-bono services for affected customers.

8 Responses

  1. I agree, I recorded Friends off Foxtel in widescreen and made my own DVDs for my own personal use, will they charge me? Also is $20 for one episode or an entire season as you can buy them on DVD for my less at the supermarket, I have a 4:3 copy on DVD.

  2. Can’t believe anyone actually can take the time to torrent, convert and burn “Friends”. It’s available at any decent public library for free and at the local Blockbuster for $3 a season, or less that $10 per season on eBay.

    1. What’s this ‘convert’ and ‘burn’ you speak of? Is that something people had to do in the Dark Ages? 😉

      Most TVs (& DVD/Blu-Ray players) these days play most .avi formats & .mp4 natively, and have USB ports into which you can plug a stick or even a portable HDD.

  3. It is legal to record “Friends” to your PVR. It is legal to download episodes but not upload. Why bother, $15 will get you an entire series on ebay and GEM b/cast 11 different eps every week.

  4. Episodes online sell for about $3. You can reasonably argue that it is their right to exploit their copyrighted material for commercial value. Their income from lost sales would be less than $3 an episode when you remove what ever percent iTunes or whatever gets out of the cost.

    Uploads however is where it gets silly. Most people barely seed. Say you seed 10%. For 20 episodes you’ve only done Warner Bros around $44 worth of lost sales.

    Not worth them going to court over. Hence why we will probably get changes to the law allowing unjust metrics for damages.Turning downloaded into a source of major income through the legal system. Where the studios will get many times the potentially lost revenue back.

  5. There’s an article in the Technology section of the SMH (or your preferred Fairfax website) that discusses the implication for Australia – nada. In the Dallas Buyers Club case the ISP was forced to hand over details of alleged pirates to the studio but the trial judge prevented the information being used for speculative invoicing (ie the USD20 charge). DBC however was a one-off case – in Australia the code being developed by the telco industry will prevail (if adopted) & alleged pirates will only have their identity handed over after they get 3 written warnings in a 12 month period.

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