http://torrentfreak.com/judge-ip-address-does-not-prove-copyright-infringement-140121/A few countries have had similar rulings now, hopefully the common sense keeps spreading.
Judges who handled similar cases in the past have made observations along the same lines and now Washington District Judge Robert Lasnik has added his opinion, ruling that IP address-only evidence fails to meet the pleading standards required to pursue for copyright infringement...
...“[The movie studio] has actually alleged no more than that the named defendants purchased Internet access and failed to ensure that others did not use that access to download copyrighted material,” Lasnik states.
In other words, the complaint itself states that the account holder may not be the person who downloaded the movie, which isn’t enough to pursue the case...
...“While it is possible that the subscriber is the one who participated in the BitTorrent swarm, it is also possible that a family member, guest, or freeloader engaged in the infringing conduct,” he adds.
As a result, the defendant’s motion to dismiss was granted because the movie studio failed to state a claim for direct copyright infringement, contributory infringement and indirect infringement. The copyright holder is allowed to file an updated complaint, but doubts that the movie studio will be able to make a valid claim.
The ruling is crucial as it confirms that an IP address is not enough evidence in these cases, and that account holders are not legally responsible per se for others who may pirate on their connection. Or at least, that an IP address alone is not enough to launch a copyright infringement lawsuit.
