What is a 'copyright troll' that abuses copyrights for commercial purposes while adult content companies are undertaking a record number of copyright lawsuits?

To combat content piracy, major studios such as Hollywood, for example, are working to track down major suppliers of piracy platforms. On the other hand, there are companies that exercise copyright and ``get financial benefits by individually tracking pirated content uploaders and bringing them to settlement ''. In the first half of 2023 alone, more than 1,660 lawsuits were filed by such companies, 57% more than in 2022, when a “record number of piracy lawsuits were filed.”

'Copyright Troll' On Route to File Record Number of Piracy Lawsuits This Year * TorrentFreak
https://torrentfreak.com/copyright-troll-on-route-to-file-record-number-piracy-lawsuits-this-year-230705/

'Strike 3' Filed a Record Number of Piracy Lawsuits This Year * TorrentFreak
https://torrentfreak.com/strike-3-filed-a-record-number-of-piracy-lawsuits-this-year-221227/

Strike 3 Holdings, an adult content company, filed 2788 lawsuits in 2022 for alleged piracy of its content. This is a record number of lawsuits filed by rightsholders in a single year and will account for the majority of copyright infringement lawsuits filed in the United States in 2022.

According to TorrentFreak, which primarily provides news about piracy and digital rights, there were 1,019 lawsuits related to piracy and file sharing in 2017, compared to 2018, when Strike 3 entered the lawsuit. The number of lawsuits soared to about 6,000, a record high for similar copyright infringement lawsuits filed in a year. Among them, Strike 3 filed 2,094 lawsuits, and Malibu Media, which produces adult movies, has 1,231 cases. became.

The graph below summarizes the number of copyright infringement lawsuits filed by Strike 3 since 2017. Since 2018, Strike 3 has filed nearly 1,000 lawsuits each year, and by 2022, the number of lawsuits will grow to nearly 3,000, a record high.

In 2023, the number of Strike 3 copyright infringement lawsuits has increased further, and it has been found that 1660 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts in the United States in the first half alone. If lawsuits continue to file at a similar pace, Strike 3 will have the largest number of copyright infringement lawsuits ever filed in 2023. The image below is part of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Strike 3 in March 2023.

TorrentFreak points out that a large number of lawsuits by Strike 3 are ' copyright trolls ' that exercise copyright rights for the financial benefit of the lawsuit. Despite the fact that the copyright law is originally intended to 'encourage the creation of works of authorship,' there is a lack of monetary compensation aimed at the imbalance in the damages provisions of the copyright law and the difficulty of winning for the defendant. By abusing copyright for the purpose of profit, it is called `` troll (vandalism) act '' because it reduces the motivation of creation on the contrary. Other rights holders have deployed similar strategies in the past, but Strike 3 remains the only major company to remain involved.

It's unclear how much profit Strike 3 has made as a result of the mass litigation, but TorrentFreak said, ``We speculate that Strike 3 must be very happy with the outcome of the lawsuit. If it's in the red, it shouldn't be filing thousands of complaints every year.'