Filmmakers Settle Copyright Infringement Claim

KeepSolid Inc., parent company of VPN Unlimited (“VPN”), a personal and virtual private network software designed to protect all data received and sent over on the internet, has settled a copyright claim with a group of movie companies. The Claimants, which include the makers of films such as The Hitman’s Bodyguard, London Has Fallen and The Dallas Buyers Club to name a few, accused VPN of failing to act against subscribers who were pirating films, in other words streaming movies illegally. The filmmakers brought the claim in the Virginia federal court.

The movie companies claimed VPN was involved in copyright infringement of the movies, as it allegedly ‘encouraged’ subscribers to use pirate sites and did not take action to stop the infringing traffic.

All parties agreed to settle the claim in a confidential settlement agreement, and as a result all claims against VPN were dismissed. In partial settlement, VPN agreed to block ‘BitTorrent traffic’, a communication protocol used to share files and distribute data and electronic files over the internet, as well as several US pirate sites such as Pirate Bay and RARBG.

Further claims have been brought by the movie companies against several other VPN services and hosting companies, such as Leaseweb and ExpressVPN, but these matters are still ongoing.

If you have any questions on the above, please do not hesitate to contact the team at McDaniels Law on 0191 281 4000 or legal@mcdanielslaw.com.