Dallas Buyers Club is asking alleged illegal downloaders to name their price instead of facing court

HOW much would you pay to stay out of court for illegally downloading the movie Dallas Buyers’s Club?

Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club.

HOW much do you think is fair for illegally downloading Dallas BuyersÂ’ Club?

$5000, $500 or the price to hire a DVD?

Well, that is the latest tactic being used by the makers of the Oscar-winning film starring Matthew McConaughey.

After winning a landmark legal case to force internet service providers (ISPs) in Australia and Singapore to hand over the names of hundreds of alleged offenders, co-producer Voltage Pictures has now sent letters to some of those in Asia demanding they pay up.

But they are not demanding a certain amount, rather they are asking them to name their price.

If they refuse, they will face legal action.

“We can only pursue a small proportion, but the hope is that will be sufficient to raise awareness of this massive problem,” said Michael Wickstrom, vice president of Royalties and Music Administration at Voltage Pictures said in an email to Reuters.

But intellectual property experts have told news.com.au that it is still a long way from getting to that point in Australia.

The Federal Court judge who ruled in favour of Dallas Buyers Club LLC placed a number of restrictions on the order. Any letter sent to alleged pirates must been seen by him, and the privacy of individuals must be protected, meaning downloaders cannot be named or shamed.

Anny Slater from Slaters Intellectual Property Lawyers told news.com.au last week the other issue was the fact DBCLLC doesn’t have “proof of download”.

“The most that ever happened overseas was that they wrote a letter to alleged infringers and said we consider that we have a case and these are normally the sorts of damages that we’ve been entitled to, but we will consider not taking that step if you pay this amount to us. And so they just nominated the amount,” she said.

“It’s an exercise in encouraging people not to download or share, because the money that they ask for was just a drop in the ocean — it has averaged about $9100 ($US7000) in the past.”