The MPAA has brought a lawsuit seeking up to $600,000 in damages against a 67-year-old grandfather after he refused to pay a settlement of $4,000 this past March. The suit claims the man"s then 12-year-old grandson illegally downloaded four movies from file sharing service iMesh.
Fred Lawrence of Racine, Wisconsin says the downloading of "The Incredibles," "I, Robot," "The Grudge," and "The Forgotten" by his grandson last December was an innocent mistake, and that the files were deleted immediately. Lawrence also added that the family already owned three out of the four movies on DVD. He went on to explain his understanding of the MPAA"s desire to combat piracy, "But when you get up around $4,000 ... I don"t have that kind of money."
Piracy costs the movie industry $5.4 billion annually according to Kori Bernards, vice president of corporate communications for the MPAA.