Porn Infringement Battles Keep Action Going for Both Sides

Five years ago, Jeffrey Antonelli was eyeing new opportunities for his law practice when, by chance, he was introduced to a defendant accused of downloading pornographic films in violation of copyright law.

He took on the defense of an Illinois resident facing claims in Florida that he had copied porn using BitTorrent’s file-sharing technology, an infringement claim that could potentially put him on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars in damages.

Prenda Law, which brought the copyright claims in Antonelli’s first case and was eventually labeled as part of a “porno-trolling collective” by a federal judge, later went ...