PrimeWire’s ‘Egregious’ Conduct Merits ‘Enhanced Damages’: Judge

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi for Central California in Los Angeles signed a final default judgment Friday (docket 2:21-cv-09317) awarding the major studios and Netflix $20.7 million in damages, plus $417,600 in attorneys’ fees, for PrimeWire’s willful infringement of 138 copyrighted movies and TV shows (see 2212070037). In his order, Scarsi said PrimeWire committed willful infringement, “meriting an award of enhanced damages.” PrimeWire’s conduct is “particularly egregious,” said the judge. Despite the studios’ repeated attempts to “hale” PrimeWire into court, PrimeWire either ignored their emails or “anonymously denied any wrongdoing,” he said. PrimeWire also evaded the court’s injunctions “by transferring operations to different domain names,” he said. Scarsi also said the substantial web traffic PrimeWire gained from illegally streaming the studios’ copyrighted works “likely created a heavy windfall in advertising revenue” at the studios’ expense.