‘Malibu Media’ Has Knocked on the Wrong Door Again

• A man fought back a copyright troll and won a settlement involving a satisfactory compensation.
• These copyright holders engage in “gray-area” practices and force people into paying settlements.
• The particular firm has been penalized for process abuse before, but they aren’t stopping this practice.

‘Malibu Media’, the American adult movie producer, has found itself in trouble once more as one of the recipients of its copyright infringement notices isn’t willing to give in to copyright trolling practices. Tim McManus, an IT-specialist and professor at Fordham University has received a summon that accused him of pirating content belonging to Malibu Media. The man refused to reach an extrajudicial settlement since he didn’t pirate anything and decided to fight back with a lawsuit of his own. Malibu Media found itself on the ropes, having to deal with an “abuse of process” counterclaim submitted by McManus’ lawyer.

It all started in 2017 when McManus received the notice, to which he responded by provoking the media company to sue him. The IT expert looked into the evidence that they had produced and figured that they would realize that they didn’t have anything concrete against him. Somehow though, Malibu Media decided to push forward, suing the man and offering a $10,000 as a way out. When McManus responded with a counterclaim, the publisher informed the court that they would like to dismiss the case, allegedly because the expertise of the defendant in IT rendered him capable of hiding his copyright infringing activity.

McManus didn’t yield to any of this and requested a full coverage of his legal costs. Two years later, a settlement between the two was reached. TorrentFreak approached the man for a comment on the case, getting the following:

“I learned that we do not have a ‘justice system’ in the US. There is no justice in the system. It is a ‘legal system’ that requires money to participate in and accomplish anything. If you don’t have money, don’t expect to get the outcome you want. Like it or not, that’s the truth.”

The man also stated that he has some regrets about not taking things all the way and accepting a settlement instead, but his lawyer advised him to settle because of the unpredictability of trial outcomes of this kind.

Malibu Media has been barred from California courts for abuse of process, and they have previously been stunned by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals when they were asked to provide more evidence. It is clear that they engage in tottery legal actions that are based on the fact that people aren’t willing to fight them back in court. Paying $200-$300 and settling a case even if you’ve done nothing wrong is preferable to many people who would otherwise have to pay many thousands of dollars to take the matter into a court. A large number of individuals who receive these notices simply can't afford to do anything else, and this is entirely absurd.