Skip to main contentThe production company in charge of Jason "Wee Man" Acuña's 2012 film Elf-Man is suing 107 Oregonians, accusing them of illegally downloading the holiday film.
The lawsuit, filed Feb. 26 in U.S. District Court in Eugene, alleges the defendants used BitTorrent to download and distribute the movie, which went straight-to-DVD on Dec. 4.
The film, with the tag line "Christmas has a new hero," tells the tale of "an Elf left behind by Santa to help rescue the Harper family from a lousy Christmas," according to IMDB. "The Elf and the family get more than they bargained for, as the kids help the Elf discover his special powers and true identity as a budding superhero."
Acuña gained fame as "Wee Man" — one of the stars of the Jackass TV shows and movies. Jackass might be best known in Portland for the sketch in which a member of the cast used a toilet not connected to plumbing at Hippo Hardware to do his business. The only trivia listed on IMDB for Elf-Man is, "This will be Wee Man's first role in a family-friendly motion picture."
The case, filed by attorney Carl Crowell of Salem, is seeking $30,000 in damages from each plaintiff. (The lawsuit also points out Elf-Man could be suing each defendant for up to $150,000).
The case lists the IP addresses for each defendant, the production company, Elf-Man LLC, cannot identify the individuals behind the addresses. It's asking the court to subpoena each IP address from internet service providers.
Crowell did not immediately return WW's call for comment.
WWeek 2015