Month: December 2023

‘Strike 3’ Files Record Number of Piracy Lawsuits in 2023

Strike 3 Holdings continues to raise the bar when it comes to the number of piracy lawsuits filed in U.S. federal courts. This year, the adult entertainment company has already filed a record-breaking 3,465 cases. With potential settlements of hundreds or thousands of dollars each, this can be quite a lucrative business.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

justiceToday, it’s common knowledge that IP-addresses and downloads of BitTorrent users can be easily monitored by tracking outfits.

This inherent transparency has fueled thousands of lawsuits against alleged video pirates, both in the U.S. and around the world.

In the United States, Strike 3 Holdings established itself as the absolute frontrunner in recent years. The company produces adult entertainment videos published under the brands ‘Blacked’, ‘Tushy’, and ‘Vixen’ made available from its own websites. If any of these videos are shared on pirate sites, Strike 3 takes action.

These lawsuits can be a lucrative business, especially when targeted defendants opt to swiftly settle the action for a few thousand dollars. The money comes on top of the deterrent factor, which is often cited by copyright holders as one of the main reasons to take action.

Legal pressure can deter the accused pirates and, perhaps, some of their neighbors too. On the whole, however, the copyright infringement problem is rather persistent, which is exemplified by Strike 3’s track record.

Raising the Bar

With the year in its final week, we decided to take a look at the number of file-sharing lawsuits filed in the United States in 2023. The data shows that Strike 3 Holdings has set a new record yet again.

strike 3 cases

From January 1 to today, Strike 3 submitted 3,465 complaints in various courts around the U.S., targeting “John Doe” subscribers. This is a new milestone; never before has a copyright holder filed this many lawsuits against alleged file-sharers in a single year.

For comparison, in 2017 all rightsholders combined filed 1,019 file-sharing cases. In the following years, this number increased mostly thanks to Strike 3, which set the previous record of 2,878 in 2022.

12,500+

Strike 3 filed its first case in 2017 and since then has submitted over 12,500 complaints at federal courts.

Strike 3 lawsuits filed per year

stroke 3 lawsuits

Strike 3 is currently responsible for most legal action against file-sharers in the United States. Other independent movie studios also file piracy-related lawsuits, but these are limited to a few dozen at most.

With this level of workload, it’s no surprise that most cases are resolved relatively swiftly. Of all lawsuits filed in the first half of the year, more than 2,000 have already been closed; that’s more than half. This happens when the parties reach an out-of-court settlement or if Strike 3 drops a complaint for other reasons.

Trial Canceled

Earlier this year there was some ‘excitement’ when one of Strike 3’s lawsuits appeared to be headed to trial. That was canceled after the adult entertainment company and the defendant settled their differences at the eleventh hour.

There was no clear winner in that case, but both sides were ultimately happy with the outcome. According to Strike 3’s attorney Christian Waugh, the goal of these cases isn’t to damage individual defendants. The company wants to protect its rights.

“The point of my client’s litigation is not personal or to harm any defendant, it is to protect its rights under the Copyright Act, which has been done in this case,” Waugh told us at the time.

Courts have also issued judgments in these cases in the past. This has resulted in a windfall for Strike 3 in some cases but, when Strike 3 filed a lawsuit against a 70+-year-old retired police officer, the tables were turned.

Overall, however, it seems likely that there’s a financial benefit to Strike 3’s rights protection efforts. If the lawsuits generated losses, they probably wouldn’t file thousands of complaints every year.

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Getting to the bottom of how red flour beetles absorb water through their butts

A unique group of cells pumps water into the kidneys to help harvest moisture from the air.

Who <em>doesn't</em> thrill to the sight of a microscopic cross-section of a beetle's rectum? You're welcome.

Enlarge / Who doesn't thrill to the sight of a microscopic cross-section of a beetle's rectum? You're welcome. (credit: Kenneth Veland Halberg)

There's rarely time to write about every cool science-y story that comes our way. So this year, we're once again running a special Twelve Days of Christmas series of posts, highlighting one science story that fell through the cracks in 2023, each day from December 25 through January 5. Today: red flour beetles can use their butts to suck water from the air, helping them survive in extremely dry environments. Scientists are honing in on the molecular mechanisms behind this unique ability.

The humble red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) is a common pantry pest feeding on stored grains, flour, cereals, pasta, biscuits, beans, and nuts. It's a remarkably hardy creature, capable of surviving in harsh arid environments due to its unique ability to extract fluid not just from grains and other food sources, but also from the air. It does this by opening its rectum when the humidity of the atmosphere is relatively high, absorbing moisture through that opening, and converting it into fluid that is then used to hydrate the rest of the body.

Scientists have known about this ability for more than a century, but biologists are finally starting to get to the bottom (ahem) of the underlying molecular mechanisms, according to a March paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. This will inform future research on how to interrupt this hydration process to better keep red flour beetle populations in check, since they are highly resistant to pesticides. They can also withstand even higher levels of radiation than the cockroach.

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Rebel Moon: Director’s Cut soll “gänzlich anderer Film” sein

Rebel Moon ist letzte Woche bei Netflix gestartet und hat über die Feiertage sicher viele Zuschauer erreicht. Der kommende Director’s Cut soll völlig anders sein. (Science-Fiction, Film)

Rebel Moon ist letzte Woche bei Netflix gestartet und hat über die Feiertage sicher viele Zuschauer erreicht. Der kommende Director's Cut soll völlig anders sein. (Science-Fiction, Film)

Ars Technica’s best video games of 2023

2022’s relative drought leads to an absolutely packed year of major epics.

Ars Technica’s best video games of 2023

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

It’s been a real period of feast or famine in the video game industry of late. Last year in this space, we lamented how COVID-related development delays meant a dearth of big-budget blockbusters that would usually fill a year-end list. In 2023, many of those delays finally expired, leading to a flood of long-anticipated titles over just a few months.

But the year in games didn’t stop there. Beyond the usual big-budget suspects, there were countless delightful surprises from smaller indie studios, many of which came out of nowhere to provide some of the most memorable interactive experiences of the year.

These two trends make it difficult to narrow this year’s best games down to just 20 titles. The “shortlist” we assembled during the winnowing process easily approached 50 titles, most of which could have easily made the list in a less packed year—or been swapped with a game that did make this year’s list.

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Broadcom siegt vor Gericht: Netflix zu Millionenstrafe wegen Patentverletzung verurteilt

Laut einem deutschen Gericht nutzt Netflix ein Broadcom-Patent für einen Videocodec seit Monaten ohne Genehmigung. Dafür gab es nun eine Strafzahlung. (Broadcom, Rechtsstreitigkeiten)

Laut einem deutschen Gericht nutzt Netflix ein Broadcom-Patent für einen Videocodec seit Monaten ohne Genehmigung. Dafür gab es nun eine Strafzahlung. (Broadcom, Rechtsstreitigkeiten)