A member of a release team that uploaded thousands of torrents to The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents and ExtraTorrent faces new action after failing to pay a settlement agreed with BREIN. In 2016, three group members agreed to pay €67,500 between them, but only two paid. BREIN now has a court order to enforce the debt against the third, which has now doubled in size.

Dutch anti-piracy outfit BREIN is well known for numerous actions against various players in the piracy ecosystem.

The company’s targets have included big sites – The Pirate Bay, for example – through to various individuals and groups that facilitate access to infringing content online. In 2016, that included Netherlands-based torrent release team, 2Lions.

2Lions uploaded thousands of torrents to several popular sites including The Pirate Bay, KickassTorrents, 1337x, ExtraTorrent, and Demonoid. This attracted the attention of BREIN which targeted several members of the group.

In a 2016 legal process in which the individuals had no input, BREIN obtained ex parte injunctions which prohibited three members of the 2Lions team from infringing the copyrights of BREIN’s members on pain of a 2,000 euros per day fine. That led to negotiations with the team.

In addition to removing as many of their uploaded torrents as possible, the three individuals (and two other team members) agreed to pay BREIN 15,000 euros each as part of a settlement agreement. It’s now been more than three years since that deal was made but according to BREIN, one team member hasn’t met their obligations.

In a session before the Court of The Hague last week, BREIN sought to force the former uploader to pay up via a collection process, one that is likely to prove even more expensive for the person in question.

According to the anti-piracy group, not only will the individual have to pay the originally agreed amount, he or she will also have to pay for these proceedings and subsequent collection costs. That effectively doubles the amount to be paid to BREIN, a payment it can now enforce following the court process.

Rather than immediately pursue most of its targets through the courts, BREIN has regularly announced that groups, platforms and companies have shut down after reaching settlement agreements. IPTV providers, music pirates, torrent sites, and Usenet indexers have all promised to pay up over the past couple of years.

Given the volume of settlements, BREIN is clearly keen to see them honored. During 2018 alone, the Dutch anti-piracy group reached deals with 31 entities which included promises to settle via payments totaling hundreds of thousands of euros. The action last week suggests BREIN is prepared to enforce such payment, should people fail to meet their obligations.

“BREIN has been working with bailiffs and a debt collection office for some time now to keep track of non-paying infringers,” BREIN chief Tim Kuik said in a statement.

“This can concern payments that have been agreed in settlements or court orders. The results are satisfactory. Those who do not meet their payment obligations will be presented with an extra bill for this.”