'Hurt Locker' lawyers continue antipiracy fight

Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver, the law firm that has filed copyright complaints against thousands of accused illegal file sharers on behalf of independent filmmakers this year, is getting some important help.
(Credit: Voltage Pictures)

DGW, which also operates under the name U.S. Copyright Group, has recruited lawyers from as many as 23 U.S. states to file lawsuits against thousands of suspected film pirates in local courts, according to Thomas Dunlap, the firm's co-founder and one of the participating attorneys.

DGW represents about a dozen movie makers, including the producers of Oscar winning film, "The Hurt Locker." Last month, the firm's efforts appeared to be doomed when it was forced to drop thousands of defendants from one of its suits. The firm had accused hundreds of Time Warner Cable subscribers of pirating a clients' movie and the bandwidth provider agreed to identify only 28 customers a month. DGW possesses Internet protocol addresses but needs ISPs to identify the owners of those addresses. The firm told a federal district court that because of TWC's stance, it would need five years to obtain the names of all the defendants.
A federal district judge in Washington, D.C., denied the extension request. She said she wanted to determine sooner rather than later whether her court even had jurisdiction over all the defendants, many of whom live in other states. Dunlap said he would partner with lawyers licensed to practice in other jurisdictions and continue to press the cases. Many attorneys who oppose Dunlap in these copyright cases were skeptical.