Hurt Locker maker to sue BitTorrent pirates

Vultures to launch downloader shakedown

The company behind Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker is reportedly ready to sue tens of thousands of individuals, claiming they used BitTorrent to pirate the film.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Hurt Locker maker Voltage Pictures has signed up with a firm called the US Copyright Group, which specialises in mass copyright infringement lawsuits.

The independent flick, which collected six Oscars but a measly $16 million at the US box office, was leaked to BitTorrent months before its theatrical release.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed this week, with potentially tens of thousands of John Doe defendants.

ISPs will then be subpoenaed to hand over the names and addresses of alleged downloaders, who will start receiving settlement offers in the mail.

US Copyright Group, despite its lofty name, appears to be in the same category of company as the low-rent, no-win-no-fee legal vultures which advertise personal injury services on daytime TV.

In March, it sued 20,000 alleged pirates for downloading Torrents of indy movies, and told the Hollywood Reporter it was “creating a revenue stream” for the producers.