Victorious BitTorrent Tracker to Return

Written by Ben Jones on May 10, 2008

Rounding off a series of court decisions and actions regarding BitTorrent sites, torrent.is users will have something to celebrate. The BitTorrent tracker favored by Icelandic downloaders, has won yet again in Court, and the site will reopen May 16th.

torrent icelandWe conclude ‘court week’ at TorrentFreak with the happy news that torrent.is has remained victorious in its legal battles. At the end of March, we explained how the case was dismissed, saying it was likely the plaintiffs (the Icelandic movie and music industry), would be likely to appeal to the Icelandic Supreme Court.

This did indeed happen, and today, the Supreme Court announced a ruling (Icelandic) in favor of torrent.is, awarding it an additional 400,000 ISK ($5025 US or 3250 Euros) on top of the 500,000 ISK awarded in March.

The case was dismissed because of legal formalities. It would appear that some of the plaintiffs in the case were found to have no legal grounds to pursue an injunction. When the prosecution team tried to switch plaintiffs in order to save the case, the Supreme Court flat out dismissed it.

Speaking to TorrentFreak, Torrent.is owner, Svavar Kjarrval, said he was “very happy with the decision,” adding he hopes to have the site open on the 16th. “However, the executive of one of the plaintiffs [SMÁÍS] claims he will use any means available to stop the site from reopening. I don’t know if that will succeed or not.”

A spokesman of SMAIS was quoted by mlb.is as saying “This verdict is sad, and it is incredible to deny copyright holders seeking their rights. This is an unnecessary adherence on legal formalities in this case, rather than taking on the subject as it should. There still has not been a formal verdict in this case and it seems to be hard to get a judge to review the facts of the case itself, that is, the copyright laws themselves.”

However, before people rush to host torrent sites there, Svavar has a warning. “This ruling doesn’t state that torrent sites are legal so there is still no certainty as to their legality” Hosting a BitTorrent site still is in the “grey zone” for now, but that doesn’t stop Torrent.is from reopening.

Previously: BitTorrent Shrugs Off Massive Malware Attack

Next: Shareaza Stands Up To Scammers: “We’re fighting back!”

36 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)

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1 May 10, 2008 at 01:06 by Anonymous

excellent win iceland

2 May 10, 2008 at 01:11 by Anonymous

yay!

I hope to upload Prince Caspian on the 16 then!

3 May 10, 2008 at 01:12 by Anonymous

I think this is a good sign for The Pirate Bay!

4 May 10, 2008 at 01:51 by nurgle

good for Iceland … at least the judges have more sense in Iceland than the idiots here in the US

5 May 10, 2008 at 01:54 by zarathustra

Viking POWA AWSOMA!

Well done, guys… =]

6 May 10, 2008 at 02:01 by Jacko

It shows what I’ve been saying all along, that the evil tyrants running the cartels will stop at nothing to get what they want “by any means available” and saying that right after being denied by the Supreme Court is ugly, and shows the greatest disrespect, disregard, and contempt for its authority and rulings.

These orgs should be investigated and banned everywhere and have all their assets confiscated and given to good causes.

Artists should cease from employing them and get private or small label management or do business online.

7 May 10, 2008 at 02:15 by Steve Jobs

In your face =b

8 May 10, 2008 at 02:42 by Anonymous

[quote comment="380592"]It shows what I’ve been saying all along, that the evil tyrants running the cartels will stop at nothing to get what they want “by any means available” and saying that right after being denied by the Supreme Court is ugly, and shows the greatest disrespect, disregard, and contempt for its authority and rulings.

These orgs should be investigated and banned everywhere and have all their assets confiscated and given to good causes.

Artists should cease from employing them and get private or small label management or do business online.[/quote]
For reals.

9 May 10, 2008 at 03:49 by Jag

“There still has not been a formal verdict in this case and it seems to be hard to get a judge to review the facts of the case itself”

In other words: ” This case went bad for us because we couldnt find a judge to buy / this judge was not bought”

These sons of bitches are finding us Scandinavians not so easy to push over and finding scandinavians lawmakers are not as easy to buy as in other parts of the world. We do have our bitchs and scum like B Ask in Sweden and security personell who work for the MPAA/RIAA of course… but hopefully they will soon be hunted down like the dogs they are and make society cleaner.

http://www.ezee.se/

10 May 10, 2008 at 04:07 by As An Industry Slowly Dies.......

“However, the executive of one of the plaintiffs…claims he will use any means available to stop the site from reopening.”

Tsk, tsk.

Shades of Dan Glickman and the MPAA’s criminal hiring of a hacker to illegally break into TorrentSpy’s system to steal files which they then had the audacity to present to a court as “evidence”.

Isn’t it pathetic and ultimately telling how those who thump their chest the loudest and call us criminals are, in reality, the quickest to embrace criminality as an option to advance their platform.

11 May 10, 2008 at 04:13 by Jack

[quote comment="SMAIS spokesman"]This is an unnecessary adherence on legal formalities in this case, rather than taking on the subject as it should.[/quote]

Read: Waah! Screw the law just make teh bad pirateses stop!

12 May 10, 2008 at 05:27 by Josho

Anyone who applauds this as a win for filesharing is an idiot. Read the post CAREFULLY. Notice the case was thrown out on legal formalities and had nothing to do with the tracker being legal or not. The plaintiffs could easily bring a seperate case against the tracker; if they win, the tracker will probably be shut down. We’re still on close watch, and we’d better guard our trackers carefully.

13 May 10, 2008 at 05:58 by saywall

It’s nice to see the system working there. Maybe legal formalities refers to the underhanded bullshi& these bloodsucking, greedy, fat cats pull with every case. Maybe the smoke and mirror act won’t work anymore.

14 May 10, 2008 at 06:29 by aguy

*success*

15 May 10, 2008 at 06:41 by Anonymous

Great news!

16 May 10, 2008 at 07:17 by k3nt

paybacks a b*tch$$$$$$$

17 May 10, 2008 at 07:56 by gar

hi im new here

nice news :)

i have a question, where can i download pre-released movies like Indiana Jones 4 ?

18 May 10, 2008 at 08:41 by Facepalm

Yes you can download pre-release movies. Screeners they are called. I’m assuming you mean before they come out on DVD. You can’t get then at all before they come out in the cinema. The you can get Cams.

19 May 10, 2008 at 08:53 by Anonymous

[quote comment="380650"]
These sons of bitches are finding us Scandinavians not so easy to push over and finding scandinavians lawmakers are not as easy to buy as in other parts of the world. We do have our bitchs and scum like B Ask in Sweden and security personell who work for the MPAA/RIAA of course… but hopefully they will soon be hunted down like the dogs they are and make society cleaner.

http://www.ezee.se//quote

I hear Swedes are pretty easy to buy.

20 May 10, 2008 at 08:54 by Ezzy Elliott

Brilliant news. Some in p2p community worry bt trackers are a weak link. Even when attacked by the courts BT wins as there are so many sites.

Web based anonymous p2p alternatives like http://www.Dargens.com also have trackers but they also protect file sharers. And as Dargens fully open source anyone who wants to start a site can.

21 May 10, 2008 at 09:20 by Anonymous

read:
http://www.smais.is/template25024.asp?pageid=4658

“all major TV stations as well as other key players in the endertainment market. ”

they can’t even spell enTertainment right. lol.

22 May 10, 2008 at 09:21 by dude1

read:
http://www.smais.is/template25024.asp?pageid=4658

“all major TV stations as well as other key players in the endertainment market. ”

they can’t even spell enTertainment right. lol.

23 May 10, 2008 at 10:17 by Ray NL

“This is an unnecessary adherence on legal formalities in this case, rather than taking on the subject as it should.”

Funny.. they use such technicalities constantly to win cases but they are sad if the opposition uses the same tactics to win?

24 May 10, 2008 at 10:45 by Anonymous

[quote comment="380777"][quote comment="380650"]
These sons of bitches are finding us Scandinavians not so easy to push over and finding scandinavians lawmakers are not as easy to buy as in other parts of the world. We do have our bitchs and scum like B Ask in Sweden and security personell who work for the MPAA/RIAA of course… but hopefully they will soon be hunted down like the dogs they are and make society cleaner.

http://www.ezee.se//quote

I hear Swedes are pretty easy to buy.[/quote]
Not the judges of Sweden, only the girls.

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