San Diego attorney James Davis couldn't find Bit Torrent movie thieves

Catching thieves who steal and distribute movies using BitTorrent software is a difficult business. San Diego County attorney James Davis last year sued John and Jane Does that had stolen a movie called Cell. Early this year, he thew in the towel; he couldn't locate the pilferers.

Now he is getting a hair of the dog. On June 13 in federal court, Davis filed a suit against a group of individuals and institutions who allegedly used false information to lure him into the business of catching movie filchers. The group getting sued is called the Copyright Litigation Campaign, whose purpose is to sue and collect funds from those stealing movies and distributing them.

Davis had filed 58 cases on behalf of the Copyright Litigation Campaign when he decided he had been hoodwinked. In the suit, Davis said he was "unfamiliar" with such litigation and the campaign "made numerous false representations" to lure him in.

As far back as February, 2014, the publication Mother Jones reported that thousands of suits had been filed against people using BitTorrent, but judges were then getting skeptical of such litigation.