Click to Skip Ad
Closing in...

Fed up with BitTorrent-related lawsuits, Verizon takes the fight to the copyright cops

Published Dec 12th, 2012 11:59PM EST

If you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs.

Telecom companies apparently do have limits on how far they’re willing to go to appease copyright holders. TorrentFreak reports that Verizon (VZ) is remaining steadfast in its resistance to giving adult film companies identifying information on some of its customers who allegedly engaged in online piracy. In fact, Verizon has actually gone a step further this week by telling a Texas court that the copyright holders suing for customers’ information have chosen to “pursue a scheme which, if not illegal, is at a minimum of a type to which the courts should not lend their powers and support.”

And that’s not all — as TorrentFreak writes, Verizon has also decided to ask the court to grant it discovery so it can “request sensitive information on the companies involved.” Verizon justifies this discovery request by saying that it needs to determine “whether the Plaintiffs are good faith publishers of the material they purportedly seek to protect as opposed to whether Plaintiffs’ business model is primarily profit from their aggressive and abusive copyright enforcement efforts.”

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.