Dallas Buyers Club tells downloaders to 'name price' for pirating their film!

In a shift from the so-called "speculative invoicing" tactics it has used to demand thousands of dollars in compensation from alleged pirates elsewhere, the film studio behind Dallas Buyers Club is reportedly sending letters to alleged pirates in Singapore asking them to name their price for torrenting the movie.
Singapore's TODAY newspaper said it had seen letters sent on behalf of Dallas Buyers Club LLC to 77 customers of Singaporean internet service provider M1, which Dallas Buyers Club alleged downloaded the Oscar-winning film without authorisation.

The letters gave the alleged pirates just three days to respond with a written offer of monetary compensation, and demanded they delete and stop using any unlicensed versions of the film still in their possession, the newspaper said.

Lawyer Robert Raj, acting for the studio in Singapore, told the newspaper his client had not demanded any specific sum relating to damages for copyright infringement in the letters, but confirmed it had received and accepted "quite a number" of written offers.

The news follows a successful court order for Dallas Buyers Club LLC to obtain contact details of alleged pirates from M1 in Singapore.
In a separate case last week against Singtel, the parent company of Australian telecommunications company Optus, the studio also won the right to access details of some 150 Singtel customers in Singapore it alleged pirated the film.

A third Singaporean ISP, StarHub, has also been ordered to release customer details.

Back here in Australia, Dallas Buyers Club LLC last week convinced a Federal Court judge to order several Australian internet service providers, including iiNet, to hand over the identities and residential addresses of 4726 account holders whose internet connections were allegedly used to share the film.
But in the Australian case, the judge put a number of restrictions on what could be done with the information.
Justice Nye Perram ordered that any letters sent to alleged illicit pirates must first be seen by him. He said this would "prevent speculative invoicing", which may not be lawful in Australia.
He also ordered that the privacy of individuals be protected, meaning Dallas Buyers Club LLC cannot disclose the identities of alleged pirates.
iiNet and M2 Group, the company that owns internet service provider Dodo, which will also have to divulge details, will not be appealing the ruling.
Whether the Australian judge would allow Dallas Buyers Club LLC to write letters similar to the ones sent to Singaporeans asking for them to pay what they believe is a fair price remains to be seen. But it is not uncommon or illegal for parties to stop potential civil action to settle out of court for substantial sums.
Consumer group CHOICE said it was possible Australians would see "name your price" letters, either from Dallas Buyers Club LLC or other rights holders pursuing separate matters.

"This is new legal territory," CHOICE spokesman Tom Godfrey said. "It's unclear what Justice Perram will specifically require in letters."
Godfrey added that naming a fair figure would be hard.
"For example, in Dallas Buyers Club's case they might argue it should include the costs of their application for preliminary discovery, and the costs associated with sending the letter. Where as, what consumers feel is fair is likely to be an equivalent price to buy the movie online," he said.
"Rights holders are powerful, most are backed by teams of lawyers making individual price negotiation a difficult process for consumers.
"Given this, it would be better to have some judicial or government oversight of the figures demanded and ultimately paid."

Michael Bradley, acting for the studio in Australia, said Dallas Buyers Club LLC was adopting different approaches tailored to each jurisdiction.
"It is still considering its options in Australia," he said. "We don't yet know what the final form of orders will be in our case, including in relation to the supervision aspect, so it's too early to speculate on what may or may not be possible."

University of Sydney Associate Professor Kimberlee Weatherall, who specialises in copyright law, said what Dallas Buyers Club could do in Australia would depend on the judgment of Justice Perram, who is next week set to make final orders on the case and potentially see the format of draft letters.
There would be "considerable concern" if letters in Australia were drafted in the same way they had been done in Singapore, Weatherall said.
"One concern is ... that the initial letter is softly-softly but later letters (not seen by the judge) ramp things up," she said.
"The other concern I think is that I have no idea what a customer receiving such a letter would make of it. Such customers would not have legal training, and there is no general guide available to consumers regarding appropriate levels of damages."

Given these concerns, Weatherall said she would be surprised if Justice Perram approved a 'name your price' letter.
Dominic Woolrych, a lawyer and legal product manager at LawPath, said he didn't believe the Australian judge would allow a 'name your price' letter.
"A 'name your price' letter could still be seen as representing to a consumer that they have a liability which they do not and may well lead to misleading and deceptive conduct within the meaning of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law," Woolrych said.

Further, he pointed to the judgment Justice Perram made last week, which notes concerns about the "consequences to persons who are untutored about litigation receiving menacing correspondence apparently resulting from court orders".

A 'name your price letter', Woolrych said, would have an equally menacing effect on alleged pirates as a letter of demand.
Woolrych reminded consumers that if the illicit downloading they conducted was for private or domestic use, damages are generally compensational as opposed to punitive in Australia, meaning they may only be liable for payment of $14.99 in a court in terms of damages, which is the cost of Dallas Buyers Club on iTunes.
"Australia does have provisions for additional damages however these would apply to 'special cases' and unlikely be used for single infringements," Woolrych said.
If a person decided to fight a case and lost, they would also be up for the legal costs of the other party as well as their own.

If the judge didn't allow Dallas Buyers Club LLC to issue 'name your price' letters in Australia, this would leave them with little option other than to sue alleged pirates in the hope of deterring piracy and collecting the money they should have received had their movie been downloaded legally.

Alternatively, the company may try to convince a judge to shut down the internet connections of repeat infringers, an idea it floated last week.