Shlockmeister Uwe Boll sues 2,000 "Far Cry" P2P downloaders

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Tens of thousands of new lawsuits are targeting BitTorrent movie downloaders, but they aren't coming from Hollywood. Welcome to the world of innovative lawyering, where everyone makes cash from suing P2P users—even director Uwe Boll.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/tech-policy/news/2010/03/shlockmeister-uwe-boll-sues-2000-far-cry-p2p-downloaders.ars'>Read the whole story</a>
 
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Nagumo

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4,396
  • #2
    Who would want to d/l and watch a Uwe Boll film? Bloody masochists.


    Here's the real issue. What are these guys going to do when they get an IP that is spoofed, aka poisoned? It's well known that many public trackers deliberately spoof IP to make it more difficult to perform this kind of lawsuit. Sue an innocent party and you can well end up being the one owing lots of money and facing very public ridicule. BT is a different world than Kazaa.
     
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    Kani

    Kani

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  • #4
    Far Cry? Really? Dungeon siege was bad enough, now he goes for a game with even less of a story and even less memorable characters.

    I expect those downloaders to counter-sue on the grounds that Uwe should be paying them to have watched his utter piece of garbage. Also extreme emotional distress, possibly even PTSD is likely.
     
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    Killer Orca

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  • #5
    I see a few paths that current torrent users will take:
    1) Stop torrenting immediately and delete everything they have, I mean really delete as in the computer is gone, before they get such a letter.

    2) In addition to #1 move on to different methods of copyright infringement.

    3) Continue to torrent but find a private site, use encryption on the content and connection or some other method to mask their identity.

    This isn't the death of bittorrent, just the birth of new private sites and less well-known trackers.
     
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    mogbert

    Ars Legatus Legionis
    10,141
  • #8
    Oh god...
    "I or one of my assistants have watched a DVD or VHS copy of the motion picture provided by Plaintiff," he writes.
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    I have just found one of the worst jobs of all time.

    First of all, I just don't believe this. I don't believe that more then 2000 people actually watched his movie, and I certainly don't believe they did this willingly/intentionally.

    Furthermore, I think that they should have to show the movie in court. I think that any jury worth it's salt will let the plantiffs off as time served.

    Seriously, I watched PART of dungeon siege (up until I was able to find my remote (I was about to just pull the power on the TV)). This man should not be allowed anywhere near a movie set, a script... shoot, he shouldn't be allowed to GO to the theater.
     
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    Control Group

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  • #10
    Nagumo":13wqx24r said:
    Who would want to d/l and watch a Uwe Boll film? Bloody masochists.
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    If Netflix counts as downloading, me. I love watching Uwe Boll films. They don't even need Mike and the bots to be funny. It's like watching the disjoint meanderings of a twelve year old's mind thrown onto the screen with decent visuals.

    Hell, I get enough mileage out of the phrase "summon the king's ninjas!"* to make watching his movies worthwhile.

    *In Dungeon Siege, the king's army at one point featured people in black pajamas and face/head scarves poised in trees. They were clearly ninjas.
     
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    bakerzdosen

    bakerzdosen

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  • #14
    Huh... who knew? A Far Cry movie.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400426/

    Well, with Emmanuelle Vaugier and Natalia Avelon in it, there seems to be SOME redeeming qualities to the film. However, I don't seem to remember it being set "on an island off the coast of the Pacific Northwest" in the game. That right there is too much creative license for me. Otherwise, how would you explain the Hawaiian shirts? :)
     
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    slumbergod

    Smack-Fu Master, in training
    80
  • #15
    How can he possible think he lost money to piracy. Even if his movies weren't available on P2P networks no one would actually pay to see one of his movies. Instead, this move just makes him look greedy. So here is my promise to you: I will never pay a cent towards seeing any of your movies - not in the cinema (if they were good enough to ever be screened) nor as a $1 throwaway budget DVD from a basement sale bin. F.U.
     
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    [S]Replicant

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    822
  • #18
    The legal system really needs some work. You shouldn't be able to file John Doe cases like this, and /certainly/ not en masse. They should need to identify every person (with irrefutable evidence that they're filing it against the person who infringed, not just someone who pays for the internet connection or lives in the same house) before filing the suit, and each suit should be filed individually.

    Oh, and if you think I'm proposing that we make it impossible for them to continue doing this, I most certainly am. They don't need to sue, they don't need to pass new laws -- they need to come up with a business model that actually works and quit blaming everyone else.
     
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    p5ycho_p3nguin

    Seniorius Lurkius
    11
  • #21
    The local video rental store was going out of business and were selling off all their old stock for $4 a piece. They had quite a few copies of Far Cry (and about 20 copies of Speed Racer) but even $4 is too much to have fun watching such terrible trash. The synopsis on the back of the case showed that the plot was the exact same as that of the game. While the game was pretty fun, I can't imagine watching that story without the actual thrill of being in the action. I doubt even 1/10th of people downloading the movie would be willing to pay even $4 for it.
     
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    darkmax

    Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
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  • #24
    Copyright holding studios and companies of films and music should all promptly jump themselves off buildings of no less than 20 stories. They churn out trash and made us pay full ticket price, and wasted our time away.

    Perhaps someone should start a campaign and sue people like Uwe Boll for negligence. He, and the likes of him, has failed to exercise due care in producing visual performances of sufficient quality to entertain the paying public.
     
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    mausium

    Ars Praefectus
    3,614
  • #25
    No, seriously, "it's so bad it's good" at some point stops being the case and lowbrow culture swings right back into what the fuck is wrong with you territory.

    @bakerzdosen "Well, with Emmanuelle Vaugier and Natalia Avelon in it, there seems to be SOME redeeming qualities to the film."

    Anyone who's seen one of his movies knows that you are mistaken.
     
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    Nagumo

    Well-known member
    4,396
  • #30
    nbs2":b5lf5h0s said:
    I have to admit, all the vitriol here is kind of, well, sort of, making me think that I should see if it might be available on NetflixOD. Sort of. If any of you are film.com visitors, it'd be like watching something from the Eric's Bad Movies column.
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    Not really. The problem with Boll is he doesn't have a clue how awful his films really are. However, if you really have to watch this, I recommend having lots of alcohol and drugs on hand to dull the pain.
     
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    ssa2204

    Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
    123
  • #31
    I think Boll does realize how awful is movies are, he just does not care. For him, he is not so much as making a film as he is spending other people's money in order to make money for himself. He would never be able to produce a film independently if it was required to actually get viewers. As many have mentioned he has taken big advantage of tax credits in order to finance his films, but that does not stop there. Fact is the worst of the worst films can always find financing simply because there is enough rich morons out there that will finance these films just for the ego (and chance to hang out with the actresses wink wink).
     
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    Nagumo

    Well-known member
    4,396
  • #33
    ssa2204":15vdebsb said:
    I think Boll does realize how awful is movies are, he just does not care. For him, he is not so much as making a film as he is spending other people's money in order to make money for himself. He would never be able to produce a film independently if it was required to actually get viewers. As many have mentioned he has taken big advantage of tax credits in order to finance his films, but that does not stop there. Fact is the worst of the worst films can always find financing simply because there is enough rich morons out there that will finance these films just for the ego (and chance to hang out with the actresses wink wink).
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    Hasn't Germany adjusted those laws? Hence why we're not seeing several new Boll films per year.
     
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    UltimateLemon

    Ars Praefectus
    5,966
  • #34
    1. 2000 People deserves to be sued for perpetuating this abomination.

    2. This is totally unfair. At least RIAA and MPAA has stuff people can boycott (i.e actually make impact on sales). We can't even boycott Uwe Boll stuff since it will just be buried with the overhwelming "This is Uwe Boll film. There is no way I'm going to watch it" statistics.
     
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    Clovis42

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  • #36
    This is an interesting twist on the whole sue your customers strategy, because Uwe Boll doesn't really have any customers.

    Part of me gets mad about DRM, lawsuits, etc. because the companies are just trying to sell more of their movies/games and apparently think it will help. I've never thought the RIAA/MPAA campaigns were about generating money, but trying to stop piracy. This is frustrating because they would do better by taking an approach to piracy like Valve. Think of pirates as potential customers.

    But this doesn't bother me so much. Uwe Boll doesn't want customers. He just wants money. This seems like a good way to get some. Plus, this is such an obvious money grab (by a foreigner!!) that it might get real coverage in the US media. Maybe people will finally get mad about this stuff and want the laws to change.

    Please, please, please sue some poor granny who thinks bittorrent is the new drug the kids are doing!
     
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