TorrentSpy ordered to pay $110m

[Detomah]

File-sharing site TorrentSpy has been ordered to pay $110m (£56m) in damages to the Motion Picture Association of America for copyright infringement. The ruling from a court in the United States comes just weeks after the website shut down.

TorrentSpy facilitated the illegal sharing of copyright files by hosting a collection of links to films and music.

TorrentSpy parent company Valence Media and its owners Justin Bunnell and Wes Park have filed for bankruptcy.

The MPAA first began legal action against the website in February 2006.

"This substantial money judgement sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites," said Dan Glickman, chairman of the MPAA.

"The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios."

TorrentSpy utilised a legitimate file-sharing technology called BitTorrent. It makes it easier to exchange large files over the internet without having to rely on central servers, with individual users sending and sharing bits of files.

In a four-page ruling, US District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper said that TorrentSpy had to pay $30,000 for "each of the 3,699 infringements shown".

The judgement is one of the largest fines ever handed down for copyright theft.

TorrentSpy shut down on 24 March and the website now has a message saying it has closed as "the ultimate method of privacy protection".

It states: "The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile."

BBC NEWS | Technology | TorrentSpy ordered to pay $110m

[Puratech]

Poor torrentspy, they were my friends

"The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios."

Its funny when they say stuff like this. Torrentspy dont host the files, run the trackers or anything, all they do is provide bit torrent links. The exact same torrents are always cross posted to a large numer of other torrent sites, many of whom actually run their own trackers/torrents.

Theyve not taken any pirated media offline, all theyve done is taken down 1 of many sites that link to it. They should be looking at taking on the people running trackers and the seeders, torrent creators, piracy groups etc if they actually want to remove whats available by searching in google.

[Tagred]

Ahh well, it means that the MPAA will still fund rubbish and utter crap for movies that should not be made. when are these people going to realise that even pirates support well made movies by actually paying to see them?

My biggest problem is that these people just do not understand new technologies, i mean how long did it take then to realise that MP3 was a new media and that it could be commercial, instead they go around thinking that they can charge the same prices for new medias as they do for old. A hulking beast that cannot move with the times. If they understood the media they promote then micropayments and mp3 and other media formats would have been properly exploited in the first place.

I feel sorry for torrent spy. The ignoramuses at the head of these corporations need to move with the time and actually get to understand the industry they are in.

Of course this is my own humble opinion and does not reflect in anyway TotalFormats position