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Backlash Gains Steam over Suits in D.C. Federal Court Against Film Sharers

By Marcia Coyle
June 30, 2010

Civil rights and consumer organizations are backing Time Warner Cable's federal court effort to block subpoenas for the names and addresses of thousands of individuals who allegedly downloaded movies illegally. The subpoenas are the result of a litigation campaign by US Copyright Group, a Washington, DC-based venture launched by the intellectual property law boutique, Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver, with offices in Washington, and Vienna and Leesburg, VA.

The campaign is targeting users of the BitTorrent file-sharing application. In a recent update on the law firm's Web site, the firm noted that more than 50,000 individuals have been sued so far in connection with the downloading of 10 films, including Call of the Wild 3D and Far Cry. Name partner Thomas Dunlap says in that update that Voltage Pictures, producers of the Academy Award-winning Hurt Locker, recently signed on to the campaign and he is preparing a lawsuit on its behalf.

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