Iceland’s Largest BitTorrent Tracker Wins in Court
Written by Ben Jones on March 28, 2008Whilst one site may have closed its doors thanks to the MPAA, after continuous legal pressure, another has prevailed today in court. Torrent.is has won in court over the Association of film rights-holder in Iceland (SMÁÍS)
The case is a study in classic big business bullying. Like similar cases in the US, SMÁÍS complained to the court about alleged copyright infringement activities on the BitTorrent site, and got a preliminary injunction, blocking the site.
However, justice works swifter in Iceland than it does in the US, and after only 4 months, the case has been to court.
The decision, however, was as surprising as it was swift. Instead of deciding for or against the defendants, the court simply dismissed the case. It is likely, however, that the plaintiffs will appeal the decision to the Icelandic ‘Supreme Court’ (Hæstiréttur).
The verdict, (available in Icelandic here) seems to hinge on the fact that under Icelandic laws, searching for files, or providing accessibility to them, is legal, as long as the files provided by the service are not themselves copyrighted. Torrent files, are not themselves copyrighted, but are instead metadata – data about data- describing copyrighted material, as indeed are reviews.
Svavar Lúthersson, owner of torrents.is, told TorrentFreak in a response to the court ruling “I’m very glad they came to this decision although it came as a surprise for myself and the plaintiffs. I will have to consult with my lawyer as to what this decision means regarding the preliminary injunction but currently it’s still in effect.”
The preliminary injunction seems likely to stay in effect until an appeal is heard, so the site won’t be back up yet. However, the plaintiffs were ordered to pay the court costs of Istorrent ehf (Pltd), the company behind Torrent.is, and its owner Svavar Lúthersson in the amount of 500,000 Icelandic Krona (approx £3320UK / $6700US / €4250 Euro)
SMÁÍS was asked for their comment on the ruling, but their contact email address was automatically bouncing as failed.
Previously: Swedish ISP Refuses To Block The Pirate Bay
Next: BPI Crackdown Planned as BitTorrent Becomes ‘Too Easy’
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The ruling is misrepresented here. The dismissal was based on lack of legal grounds to rule, by BOTH parties. Being the plaintiff, default is that plaintiff covers court costs. We have a ‘loser pays’ rule with respect to attorney fees, making unwarranted litigation less appealing.
SMAIS, eh? Moar liek SMAUG amirite.
I’m impressed that the judge knew enough about torrent files to know that they were metadata. At least some judges learn about torrents, rather than relying on the RIAA or whoever.
Unlike here, where the judge will probably listen to them, listen to Eircom, and go for the option that results in more money for him.
God bless the corrupt Ireland.
[quote comment="321015"]SMAIS, eh? Moar liek SMAUG amirite.[/quote]
urrite!
more news regarding this amazing win
http://www.fileprompt.com
[quote comment="320690"]Iceland has internet?
I thought it was just igloos n stuff.[/quote]
Mistaken with Greenland?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland
Iceland is the worlds greatest country to live in according to the UN. Same amount of points as Norway, best country from 2001 to 2004 (ratings are released two years afther the actual year). Will just get better now ;]
Comment to the person who posted post #12,
I would be willing to bet that you are an american. Everyone north of your borders do not live in igloos.
31, 32: STFU you 2nd class commenters!
@33
And your post..? You comment on other posts that are comments on previous posts. And now I comment on the comment of the comments of the previous post.
Sounds like a win on the pirates behalf.
Glad to finally see things go differently. :D
HAHA! OWNED !
mpaa can go and fuck themselves!
they will never win against us, one site going down, and 10 more will show :)
The only reason the big RIAA and MPAA winin America all of the time is because the country is run by big corporate goons. BushCo. for example.
The USA is no long run for the people, by the people.
34, Norway FTW?!? NOWAY!
[quote comment="321068"]31, 32: STFU you 2nd class commenters![/quote]
you just told yerself to stfu. Such acquittal.
As much as I wanna take this decision at face value, I got an itch saying they’re setting it up for the supreme court to “deliver a message”… I hope I’m wrong.
hmm would we be able to claim copywrite on .torrent files that we make or give the rights to the site they are posted on and when you download it u have to say your not part of the *PAA or one of there bitches and downloading is a violation of the T&S of this torrent so as soon as they do try to say u downloaded this blah blah blah we have our own lawsuit
[quote comment="321730"]hmm would we be able to claim copywrite on .torrent files that we make or give the rights to the site they are posted on and when you download it u have to say your not part of the *PAA or one of there bitches and downloading is a violation of the T&S of this torrent so as soon as they do try to say u downloaded this blah blah blah we have our own lawsuit[/quote]
I don’t see any chance of this scheme to succeed. However, it’s a conceivable concept on how to hack the copyright/patenting system. Nowadays every fart that smells unique is copyright or even patent protected. The music, movie and software industries are just three players who try to fight for their oil field of the 21 century ( http://oil21.org/ ). To apply for protection of useless stuff might be a way to overload the channels so that reality trickles into the brains that decide on the issues. A kind of unintentional overload happened in some cases where Logistep was involved. Judges or privacy protectors started to get annoyed by the business model to pressure file sharers to pay or go to court.
Here is one reason why it doesn’t work. You would most likely create a torrent file to share some data with others. That already rules out the opposite, where you would try _not_ to share some data with others. If you want to share over the internet you’ll have to accept that there are parasites that you don’t like to share with. It’s a similar problem the MAFIAA has with us.
Your idea might work if you have _your_ data distributed as a torrent, coincidentally having the same (or similar) name as music or movie the MAFIAA is after. When they download it, it’s definitely a copyright infringement. I would applaud you for such a stunt and contribute 50 Euros for your lawyer:-D
“SMÁÍS was asked for their comment on the ruling, but their contact email address was automatically bouncing as failed.”
That was probably the last straw for SMÁÍS. They closed their doors and gave their entire savings of 500 000 ISK to the owner of torrent.is. Iceland only has about 280 000 inhabitants and if SMÁÍS can’t win against torrent.is in court, then it’s game over dude. Yey!
Another victory for common sense. What are they gonna do, sue ISPs? For what? That’s like suing the phone company because it’s phone book lists an alleged criminal.
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