The Hurt Locker makers hunt illegal file-sharers

The makers of multi Oscar-winning film The Hurt Locker are suing 5,000 people who have illegally downloaded the film from the internet and say they will able identify each one of them through their internet service providers (ISP).

The company behind the film, Voltage Pictures, has filed 'John Doe' lawsuits against anyone who downloaded the film using BitTorrent - an internet file-sharing protocol - accusing them of copyright infringements and of "directly contributing" to the decline of the movie industry.

Now that the lawsuits have been filed the company can apply to obtain the identities of the accused – whose internet protocol (IP) addresses have been recorded - from the ISPs. Voltage says it will then contact them demanding $1,500 in damages and costs, and warns that anyone who tries to fight the case in court could end up paying 10 times that amount.

Smaller film makers have tried to take action against file sharers in the past, but the makers of The Hurt Locker are by far the highest profile producers to do so. Usually the bigger studios concentrate their efforts on stopping or stemming leaks in the first place rather than chasing file-sharers.

The Hurt Locker was the toast of the 2010 Oscars. It scooped six awards including Best Picture, and its director Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the Best Director Oscar.

However, it was not a big success at the box office - perhaps in part because it was leaked online six months before its release date. When it did hit cinemas it took just $17m in America. Voltage now seems intent on recouping some money by taking on the file-sharers. "Piracy hurts each and every hard-working person attempting to support his or her family through a career in the entertainment industry," said the company.

Some have dismissed the action as a marketing ploy or a scare tactic designed to increase DVD sales, and others point out that music companies have largely failed in their attempts to stamp out file sharing.

But Voltage co-founder Nicolas Chartier - who was banned from the Oscars for lobbying the judges to vote for the film - seems unperturbed. When he was contacted by one file-sharer expressing concern over the prospect of legal action he wrote them an email calling them a "moron" and declaring: "I hope your family and your kids end up in jail one day for stealing." ·