Torrentspy Dinged $111 Million

[Tynvar]

Torrentspy Dinged $111 Million in MPAA Lawsuit

By David Kravets EmailMay 07, 2008 | 4:36:04 PMCategories: BitTorrent

 

Cash_2 A federal judge is hitting the shuttered TorrentSpy service with a $111 million penalty for facilitating the infringement of thousands of copyrighted works.

 

U.S. District Judge Florence -Marie Cooper in Los Angeles, ruling in a case brought by the Motion Picture Association of America, said site operator Justin Bunnell and associates must pay the maximum $30,000 for "each of the 3,699 infringements shown."

 

The case, producing what is among the largest fines in copyright history, was bolstered after the MPAA allegedly paid a hacker $15,000 for internal TorrentSpy e-mails and correspondence.

 

"This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites," MPAA Chairman Dan Glickman said in a statement.

 

TorrentSpy, a U.S.-based torrent tacking service, shuttered in March after it lost its case against the MPAA. TorrentSpy did not lose on the merits, but defaulted after it failed to produce internal records.

 

No U.S. case has squarely addressed the legalities of BitTorrent tracking services, although one case is nearing a resolution.

 

Judge Cooper ordered TorrentSpy permanently shuttered.

 

TorrentSpy attorney Ira Rothken was not immediately available for comment. He has appealed the default order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

 

Source: http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/t...ntspy-ding.html

 

Darn that's a hell of a lot of money I guess the lesson here is do not base a filesharing in the US. I always thought these sites were overseas.

[Tynvar]

I've been reading quite a bit about it. And they lost not because they were found guilty but because they lost by default. The judge ordered them to turn in evidence of their file share users. They refused, so they lost.

[Fatal Rose]

At least they are not turning in there users. If I was in that situation I would move over seas.

[Robert]

At least the MPAA can be assured they will never see that money.

 

If it wasn't already, it's pretty obvious that America is too dangerous a place for freedom of information exchange.

 

The sharers should all consider moving to a more p2p-friendly country, out of the reach of the U.S. authorities.

[Gryph]

Owned.