Aussie pirates in the crosshairs as Village Roadshow threatens to sue illegal downloaders

Freebooters, batten down the hatches!

Australia’s largest film production company, Village Roadshow, hasn’t finished its fight against piracy. Instead, it’s trying to tighten the noose further, threatening to sue and fine individuals suspected of pirating content. Given how easy it is to circumvent the ISP blocks, Village Roadshow boss Graham Burke told Fairfax Media that “people who infringe [copyrighted movies] are people who steal, it’s theft and it’s not a victimless crime. There needs to be a price to pay. What we plan to do [is] sue people that are stealing our movies. So if someone steals Red Dog and Mad Max: Fury Road, we will sue them for the two viewings of those movies, plus some damages” incurred by the production company.

According to Burke, infringement notices will be mailed to alleged pirates “later this year” but legal action will be withdrawn if the person in question is in financial difficulties or suffering ill health. Village Roadshow will, however, need to convince ISPs to hand over personal information of the suspected infringers which, Burke said, could be done via the courts.