The old adage of “be careful what you wish for, because you might get it” was never more true than when looking at Bit Torrent litigation.  

A recent case from Oregon highlights this. The District Court refused to award attorney’s fees to a successful Bit Torrent Plaintiff. The Court justified the denial partly because the same attorney had filed over 300 copyright infringement cases, thus indicating an “overaggressive assertion of copyright claims.” The Ninth Circuit, in reversing, pointedly noted that the large amount of copyright cases was due in part to the District Court’s own case management order which limited Bit Torrent plaintiffs to suing one defendant at a time.   

In other words, if you’ve got 100 people participating in a Bit Torrent swarm, you’re going to get 100 lawsuits.

It’s understandable that the Courts are frustrated with the large number of copyright lawsuits currently clogging up the court system. But these numerous lawsuits are the direct result of various court rulings making the conduct of Bit Torrent suits more difficult.