Torrent users in Brazil once again receive extrajudicial notifications

[Chewy_fox]

A new wave of out-of-court notifications and charges for irregular movie downloads is coming to torrent users in Brazil. In addition to the cases reported by Canaltech at the end of last year, three new titles are part of this wave of notices, which arrive at the post office and bring information from the internet connection used to carry out the downloads, as well as personal data of its users.

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The letters refer to downloads made in the middle of the second half of last year, of films like Posto de Combate , After: After the Truth and Ava . All were officially launched in Brazil and join the notifications that have been issued since 2020, with new notices, also, being sent to those who downloaded productions such as Secret Service Invasion , Hellboy and Rambo: Until the End , mentioned in the report published in November.

The Canaltech had access to one of notifications, shared by the Pirate Party and sent to a service provider's customer Claro whose connection would have been used to download the film Ava , complete with data such as date, time, address IP and software used. It is requested a return in five days, in addition to the fulfillment of some requirements that involve deleting the irregular copy of the film from any device, interrupting the use of torrents for such purposes and ensuring that the connection is not used by third parties for this purpose.

In the part that most causes fear to users, a commitment to “proportionately compensate the damages caused” to the copyright holder, which in the letter seen in the report, is a company called Eve Nevada, LLC, is cited. The document signed by the offices of Márcio Gonçalves Advogados and Cots Advogados does not speak of values, but in old notices issued by Kasznar Leonardos Advogados, the amount requested amounted to R $ 3 thousand.

Example of a letter sent to a user who would have downloaded Ava. According to the office, notifications are educational in nature for fans of downloads and compensatory to movie studios (Image: Reproduction / Pirate Party)

According to the Pirate Party, responsible for indicating the sending of new notifications to Canaltech , the agreements regarding payments for this new wave are made by telephone, which can vary from R $ 500 to R $ 2 thousand. Additional terms would include fines of up to R $ 50,000 in the event of a repeat offense.

User data is obtained after requests for breach of confidentiality, made by law firms on behalf of copyright holders - Marco Civil da Internet protects clients' right to privacy except in cases like this, which involve a request judicial release. The procedures also explain why downloads made in August 2020, for example, were the subject of letters sent only in February of this year.

Rise of cases

According to Márcio Gonçalves, lawyer and founder of one of the offices responsible for sending the letters, the notifications are part of an intellectual property defense program that is led by North American film studios. “There is a strong tendency for copyright holders to protect their properties through administrative procedures, such as notices sent, as well as civil or even criminal lawsuits”, he explains, pointing out that this movement also happens in the music, software and games, for example.

As far as news is concerned, users who downloaded six films have already received notifications. Rambo: Until the End and Ava are on the list, along with Secret Service Invasion, After: After the Truth, Combat Station and Hellboy (Press Photo / Image Films)

According to him, the sending of notifications has been gaining strength in Brazil, mainly with the growth of numbers related to piracy and the increasing presence of digital platforms in the country - according to Gonçalves, in addition to Ava , his office was also responsible for send notices related to Rambo downloads : Until the End . The lawyer, however, did not specify exactly how many or which productions are being targeted by procedures of this type, just saying that more requests for breach of confidentiality are underway, so that torrent users on other operators' networks can also be identified.

“[Campaigns like these] also serve to contribute to the understanding that using third party property, without authorization or remuneration, should not be accepted. Intellectual property, in our country, is not valued as much as it would need ”, adds the lawyer. In his view, the program has an educational character, especially when it carries out the idea that piracy is a crime, which generates great losses for movie studios. "The notifications seek to recover part of these losses and are a good chance for users to resolve the issue outside the scope of the Judiciary."

In the view of the Pirate Party, the cases can be considered as another action of copyright trolls , a term that refers to the use of legal notices, threats of process and other attitudes considered aggressive to obtain profit from issues related to the protection of copyright. . On social networks, the organization continues to guide and receive reports from those notified, indicating that the letters are ignored, without making payment.

Reimbursement requests can reach up to R $ 3 thousand, with the right to fines for recidivism; Pirate Party talks about copyright trolls action and asks users to ignore notifications (Image: Disclosure / Netflix)

In January, a joint note against the action of copyright trolls was also published , signed by the Pirate Party and other national organizations, such as the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection (Idec), Creative Commons Brazil and the Coalition Rights on the Network, in addition to groups of studies and research in copyright and technology. The document, available online, includes explanations about the collection of data by copyright holders, the actions being taken and how those who receive notifications about downloading torrents should act.

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