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Abandonment Defense Stays in Copyright Suit on Filesharing

By Zach Needles

Malibu Media LLC is by now well-known as a frequent filer of copyright infringement lawsuits nationwide against Web users alleged to have illegally downloaded and shared the company's adult films. But a federal judge in Pennsylvania recently said it should be up to a jury to decide whether the company is entitled to stake a claim to those copyrights in the first place.

In a ruling on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment, U.S. District Chief Judge Christopher Conner of the Middle District of Pennsylvania ruled that a John Doe defendant should have an opportunity to argue before a jury that Malibu abandon     ned its copyrights when it made the decision to upload its content to several YouTube-esque porn streaming websites that it knew would make that content available for download. Malibu Media LLC v. Doe, 4:15-CV-2281.

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