Just last week, up to 500 people in Singapore who had illegally downloaded the film Dallas Buyers Club found themselves in hot soup. Legal action had been taken by independent film studio Voltage Pictures which required telco companies to comply with a court order hand over details of those subscribers.
What does this entail about the internet really?
While many think there is anonymity over the internet, this case clearly proves that it isn’t so. All telcos in Singapore are currently complying to the court order and sending out letters to the alleged offenders. Yet, while legal action has been sought, the letters sent to alleged offenders asked for a written offer of damages and costs without 3 days of receipt however has no specific sum of damages requested in the demand letters. Alleged infringers were also informed to delete and cease usage of the copies of the film immediately as well. Legal action is also currently sought by the company in Australia and the US, where more than 4,700 and 1,000 Internet users respectively had downloaded the film.
This has been the 2nd case in the history of Singapore where legal action has been sought against piracy, so think twice before you download anything illegally!
