This is the letter Dallas Buyers Club intends to send to alleged pirates
Mashable has obtained a draft of the letter the studio behind Dallas Buyers Club intends to send to Australians who allegedly pirated the film.
The letter will be will be sent to 4,726 users of local internet service providers (ISPs) including iiNet, Internode, Amnet Broadband, Dodo and Adam Internet. As part of a landmark ruling, these ISPs will be compelled to hand over the name and mailing address of customers who have allegedly pirated or shared Dallas Buyers Club online.
The draft letter itself does not specify a fine, but provides the recipient with an email address that they can write to in order to negotiate a settlement. A phone number is provided as an alternative.
If the recipient admits to download the film, the letter states that the following will be taken into account when determining the fine:
Damages for both uploading and downloading of the film
Damages for the legal costs incurred in obtaining account holder information from the ISP in question
Additional damages
The cost of taking action against the user in question
Factors taken into account when determining additional damages are as follows:
The flagrancy of the infringement
The need to deter similar infringements of copyright
The conduct of the person who infringed copyright after the act constituting the infringement
Any benefit shown to have accrued to the person by reason of the infringement
Recipients will have 28 days to respond to the letter, starting from the date on its front page. If a recipient does not respond, court action may be commenced against them.
If a recipient agrees to a settlement, the following questions may be asked of them:
Are you unemployed, disabled or suffering from terminal illness?
Are you currently employed and on what basis?
What is your annual income?
How long have you been using the BitTorrent network?
Did you download DBC on the BitTorrent network? If so, when? If not, how did you get it on your computer to make it available to other on the BitTorrent network?
How many titles do you have available now and in the past on the BitTorrent network?
Recipients who confess to downloading Dallas Buyers Club but disagreed with the proposed settlement may engage a separate legal proceeding with the studio.
Recipients who deny the allegations can do so by providing a written response letter, naming the individual who they believe is responsible. Recipients who do not provide the details of another suspect may have a Court order issued against them, and may have to hand over their computer for analysis to verify any denials made.
iiNet will be providing free legal counsel to customers who receive a letter, but it has yet to confirm how this will work.
It is not yet clear when DBC will begin to send letters. The case will return to Court in mid-July.
The full draft letter can be read below:
