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September 28, 2021 01:00 pm

Film Studios Sue 'No Logs' VPN Provider For $10 Million

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: LiquidVPN's business model was a fierce one, thriving on the fence of the law. In webpages seen by Ars, the VPN company boasted itself as "the best VPN for torrenting" that would also let you "unblock ISP banned streams," otherwise restricted due to copyright takedown requests. Furthermore, LiquidVPN customers were really in for a treat with "High Quality Popcorn Time Streams" thrown into the mix. And, of course, this was all a "DMCA Free Zone," since, much like any logless VPN provider, Liquid did not have the ability to forward DMCA notices to users downloading infringing content. Except, Liquid listed all of these features on its website explicitly and glamorized all of the possibilities. And imagine doing all these things seven days of the week without the risk of getting caught by your ISP or anyone else, reassured the VPN provider with a "full-refund" guarantee. Transparency can be a good thing when presenting your product, except when your marketing claims surpass the legal gray area. Unsurprisingly, in March this year, several filmmakers filed a lawsuit with the Florida District Court against LiquidVPN. This month, these plaintiffs are asking the court to issue a default judgment against LiquidVPN for the defendant's failure to plead or show up at the most recent court hearing. According to court documents (PDF), movie production firms argue LiquidVPN should not be extended "safe harbor" protections, as the defendant didn't establish a repeat-infringer policy or appoint a registered DMCA agent. The ask for $9,900,000 comprises the maximum statutory damage amount of $150,000 for each of the 66 works listed in the complaint. Additionally, $1,650,000 has been sought against LiquidVPN for "secondary liability as to DMCA violations." The asks don't stop there, however. The list of demands extends for LiquidVPN to permanently suspend accounts of repeat infringers, dismissing their "no log" policy. But the face of the LiquidVPN website is already nowhere to be seen. For weeks, the homepage has been unreachable, although the client area remains accessible.

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