“Filmmaker” suing PassThePopcorn may be banned user out for revenge

起诉 PassThePopcorn 的“电影制作人”可能是被封禁用户为报复而为

Some of the most widely used private torrent trackers for pirating movies suspect that a banned user may have posed as a filmmaker protecting copyrights in a failed attempt to seek revenge. 一些用于电影盗版的最广泛使用的私有种子追踪器（Private Torrent Trackers）怀疑，一名被封禁的用户可能冒充电影制作人以保护版权为名，试图进行报复，但最终以失败告终。

TorrentFreak has been tracking this story closely, reporting last September that an alleged independent filmmaker named Matthew Schneider sued six private trackers for infringing copyrights on some films that he supposedly made. Trackers targeted include PassThePopcorn, BroadcasTheNet, and HDBits. TorrentFreak 一直在密切关注此事，并于去年 9 月报道称，一名自称是独立电影制作人的 Matthew Schneider 起诉了六家私有种子追踪器，指控它们侵犯了他所谓制作的几部电影的版权。被起诉的追踪器包括 PassThePopcorn、BroadcasTheNet 和 HDBits。

For months, the filmmaker sought to get Cloudflare to unmask operators of the trackers through a copyright fight, which went on until trackers alerted the court last month that Schneider appeared to be an impostor. In a sworn declaration, the actual filmmaker behind the movies cited in the complaint wrote that he had no association to the plaintiff in the case. “I am not involved in, nor have I ever appeared in, this case,” Schneider wrote. 几个月来，这名“电影制作人”试图通过版权诉讼迫使 Cloudflare 披露追踪器运营商的身份。这场诉讼一直持续到上个月，当时追踪器运营商向法院指出，Schneider 似乎是一个冒名顶替者。在一份宣誓声明中，诉状中所涉电影的真正制作人写道，他与本案的原告没有任何关联。Schneider 写道：“我没有参与此案，也从未在案中露面。”

To keep the copyright fight alive, the plaintiff swore, “I’m a different Matthew Schneider.” He then claimed to have coincidentally made three films with the same exact titles as the other filmmaker’s movies, Split: A Film Anthology, Do Us Part, and Orlando Gloom, Always the Same. 为了维持这场版权诉讼，原告发誓称：“我是另一个 Matthew Schneider。”他随后声称，自己巧合地制作了三部与另一位电影制作人作品完全同名的电影，分别是《Split: A Film Anthology》、《Do Us Part》和《Orlando Gloom, Always the Same》。

For the judge, Andrea R. Wood, this unusual turn in what could have been a major case was unexpected. TorrentFreak noted that this was the first copyright case to target “multiple prominent private torrent trackers,” and the judge warned that the plaintiff could face sanctions if the private trackers’ allegations were true and he filed a frivolous claim with intent to deceive the court. 对于法官 Andrea R. Wood 来说，这起本可能成为重大案件的诉讼出现如此离奇的转折是始料未及的。TorrentFreak 指出，这是首起针对“多家知名私有种子追踪器”的版权案件。法官警告称，如果私有追踪器运营商的指控属实，且原告确实是出于欺骗法院的目的提起无理诉讼，那么他将面临制裁。

As pressure mounted on the plaintiff to clarify his complaint, he abruptly decided to voluntarily dismiss the claims, TorrentFreak reported Tuesday. But that last-minute move might not save him from being sanctioned. At a hearing that TorrentFreak attended, one of the attorneys representing one of the tracker operators, Erin Russell, confirmed that at least one defendant would be seeking sanctions. 据 TorrentFreak 周二报道，随着原告澄清诉状的压力增大，他突然决定主动撤诉。但这一临阵脱逃的举动可能无法让他免受制裁。在 TorrentFreak 出席的一次听证会上，代表其中一家追踪器运营商的律师 Erin Russell 证实，至少有一名被告将寻求对原告进行制裁。

Although the plaintiff maintained at the hearing that his legal name is Matthew Schneider, the defense raised an alternate theory the trackers have about his true identity. Linked to the email address that the plaintiff used in his self-represented court filings, an account was found that showed he was “not a stranger to private torrents” and was likely banned for selling or trading invites, TorrentFreak reported. Most likely, the plaintiff is a disgruntled user of private trackers who “bears ill will” over their likely blacklisting, Russell suggested, without showing evidence. 尽管原告在听证会上坚称他的法定姓名就是 Matthew Schneider，但辩方提出了追踪器运营商对其真实身份的另一种推测。据 TorrentFreak 报道，与原告在自辩诉状中使用的电子邮件地址相关联的一个账户被发现，显示他“对私有种子并不陌生”，并且很可能是因为买卖邀请码而被封禁。Russell 在未出示证据的情况下表示，原告极有可能是一名对私有追踪器心怀不满的用户，因被列入黑名单而“怀恨在心”。

For the private trackers, sanctioning the plaintiff will depend on proving more than just that he’s not who he says he is, though. The court will need to know his actual identity to form a judgment and know who to sanction, which Russell said at the hearing will be a practical challenge for private trackers frustrated by these developments. 不过，对于私有追踪器运营商而言，要制裁原告，仅仅证明他并非其所声称的那个人是不够的。法院需要知道他的真实身份才能做出判决并确定制裁对象，Russell 在听证会上表示，对于因这些事态发展而感到沮丧的私有追踪器运营商来说，这将是一个现实挑战。

At the next hearing on October 2, the plaintiff will seemingly have one last chance to defend his claims as genuine. Not only will he be required to appear on camera, showing defendants who they’re really up against for the first time, but the judge is also supposed to review one of the films that he allegedly made that shares a title with one of the other Schneider’s movies. It’s “an odd situation,” Judge Wood told defense counsel at the hearing, where the plaintiff promised to end delays and send over a copy of his movie, as well as enter a sworn affidavit in response to the sanctions motion. 在 10 月 2 日的下一次听证会上，原告似乎将有最后一次机会证明其诉求的真实性。他不仅需要出镜，让被告首次看清他们的对手究竟是谁，法官还计划审查他声称制作的、与另一位 Schneider 的电影同名的作品之一。Wood 法官在听证会上对辩方律师表示，这是一种“奇怪的情况”，原告承诺将停止拖延，提交其电影副本，并就制裁动议提交一份宣誓书。