Playing nice reduces pirate damages.(LEGAL MATTERS)

A user uploaded at least six adult films to various torrent sites and was sued in the middle of last month. Within four days, the litigation was over and the uploader had agreed to pay a record settlement of $250,000.

This willingness to pay such a high amount, with the decision reached so quickly, has been a bit shocking to most around the Web, but it appears that the key to the case lies in the agreement reached.

In December, Liberty Media Holdings claimed a BitTorrent user had infringed its copyrights by uploading several of its movies to the Internet and said it had tracked the man through his IP address, calling him one of the "primary sources" of its stolen content circulating on the Web.

By the end of the four-day process, both sides agreed that the man "illegally copied and distributed many" Liberty-owned films to a variety of torrent sites and that in doing so he should have known he was causing economic harm. Liberty calculated its actual damages at $500,000 but halved them for the purposes of the settlement.

What seems to be the biggest cause of the acceptance of such a high damage award is a clause in the agreement saying that the "Defendant has an opportunity to reduce the amount payable to Plaintiff if Defendant ceases any further content theft (whether the Plaintiff's content or anyone else's), and if he makes regular payments toward the judgment on a schedule which will be agreed upon between the parties in a separate settlement agreement."

This so-called 'good behavior' clause has the ability to bring down the settlement to a much more manageable amount very quickly and could be as little as Liberty wants, but will likely fall somewhere above of covering Liberty's costs for the case.

The rumor mill and conspiracy pipes on the Web are saying Liberty Media wanted to secure this as one of the biggest copyright successes against an individual user in hopes to deter others from uploading copyrighted content to the Web. If it works as a true deterrent, it could be a great step for both Liberty and the individual involved.

Two possible side-effects, however, are that some consumers will see the $250,000 settlement as another reason to rail against 'the man' and continue pirating content, while other copyright groups may use this big win as a way to pressure new alleged-infringers into paying up before facing litigation.