Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Goes After Amazon Sellers With Copyright Suits

"Harry Potter" films, "Nip/Tuck" among Warner Bros. Home Entertainment titles being sold in counterfeit form on Amazon

Looking to pick up a little cash by unloading your "Harry Potter" DVD collection on Amazon? You might want to think twice.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment unleashed its legal fury at a number of Amazon sellers with multiple lawsuits, alleging that they are peddling counterfeit copies of WBHE product via online marketplace Amazon.

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The suits — filed in U.S. District Court in California last Monday — don't state how, specifically, the products are counterfeited, only that the defendants "have not been authorized by Warner Bros. to reproduce, distribute, sell or offer for sale any of the Warner Bros. works."

The suit alleges that the copyright infringement of Warner Bros. products by the Amazon sellers "is systematic and willful or with reckless disregard of Warner Bros.' intellectual property rights."

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Titles allegedly infringed upon include the "Harry Potter" movie series, "Entourage," "True Blood," "The Sopranos," "Nip/Tuck" and "Pretty Little Liars," according to the suit.

While most of the defendants are anonymous and identified only by their Amazon user names, the suit says that Warner Bros. "is informed and believes that Amazon.com will release the true identity" of the anonymous users "upon service of a subpoena once legal action has been filed" against them.

Amazon has not yet responded to TheWrap's request for comment on the suits. Amazon policy, however, prohibits the sale of "materials that infringe other's intellectual property rights (including pirated software and counterfeit goods)."

Warner Bros. is asking that the defendants be "permanently enjoined from directly or indirectly infringing the Warner Bros. works in any manner," plus seeking the profits gained from the alleged counterfeit products, plus court costs, attorneys' fees and other unspecified damages that "the Court may deem just and proper under the circumstances."

Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.

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