TorrentSpy Slapped with $110 Million Judgement
Written by Ernesto on May 07, 2008TorrentSpy has been ordered to pay a $110 million fine by a federal judge in Los Angeles. The BitTorrent site was found guilty on the charges of copyright infringement of several movie studios represented by the MPAA.
This default judgment is the result of an ongoing court case between the MPAA and Valence Media, TorrentSpy owner Justin Bunnel’s company, that started early 2006.
It is uncertain at this point whether TorrentSpy will appeal.
Unsurprisingly, MPAA’s Dan Glickman was very pleased with the outcome of the case that lasted over two years, as he said:
“This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of sites. The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders.”
“The claims made by the MPAA in this case don’t stand up to any sort of scrutiny,” says Andrew Norton, head of the US Pirate Party in a response. “It is also clear that our judicial system urgently needs some unbiased education in modern technical matters, as anyone that has watched this case knows the judge is out of her depth. What chance does justice have in that situation?”
In 2006 TorrentSpy was more popular than any other BitTorrent site, but this changed quickly in August 2007, when a federal judge ordered TorrentSpy to log all user data. The judge ruled that TorrentSpy had to monitor its users in order to create detailed logs of their activities, and hand these over to the MPAA.
In a response to this decision - and to ensure the privacy of their users - TorrentSpy decided that it was best to block access to all users from the US. This led to a huge decrease in traffic and revenue.
This was not enough for the MPAA, who argued that TorrentSpy had ignored the court decision. The legal battle continued, and this lead to a preventative closure of the site by Justin, to protect the privacy of its users.
UPDATE - Wired have the judgement available in their coverage here
UPDATE - TorrentSpy will appeal the decision.
Previously: Test: Does Your ISP Slow Down BitTorrent Traffic?
Next: MPAA Demands $15 Million from The Pirate Bay
159 Responses
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37 May 08, 2008 at 01:27 by justiceQuote justice
God is good,
could you tell us how you made that determination?
The thing about these huge judgements is they are so ridiculous, that they are essentially meaningless. It’s a judgement on paper only. Had the judgement been for say $100,000, THAT would have been damaging to TS because there actually might be an expectation to pay. But $110 million? It’s a joke, never going to be paid, never going to be expected to be paid.
a job well done MPAA. keep up the good work.
It should be that if you buy a peice of merchandise be it a film, dvd, software or whatever, you should be able to do what ever the hell you want with it. It is unfair that we may buy it but we don’t own it or the uses of it. They have us all by the balls and it is about time that the diamond encrusted tossers that charge massive royalty’s for music and films start realising that they have enough!!!!
don’t buy cd’s or dvd’s
fuck mpaa
o noeZ! piracy r.i.p. oh wait…
These following names have been identified as astroturfers/stupid trolls due to the style they write in: annoyance, dave, Fuck Torrent Sites and justice.
I urge everyone just to ignore them. (Dont feed the trolls!)
be nice if we could see what happens with a non-cali judge
[quote comment="379102"]a job well done MPAA. keep up the good work.[/quote]
Seems like your one of those ignorant and non-techy guys who r struggling to come to terms with the technology these days, just like MPAA ppl. From your comments I wonder if you’ve ever used the internet to its true potential, coz if u had, you’d be in love with filesharing…
[quote comment="379028"]
can’t wait until the pirate bay goes down.[/quote]
Here’s the thing I enjoy about lower primates like you. You’re so incredibly stupid, that sooner or later you’re just going to forget how to breath and drop dead.
It’s like a self-correcting system.
FYI, The Pirate Bay isn’t going down until Sweden gets annexed by the USA. Now, I’m sure you’re clapping your flippers together right now and shouting “DAAH! DAT CULD HAPEN!!! DAAAAAAH!!” like any excitable retard would, but here’s a very special message; that isn’t going to happen. Yeah, I know. Life’s already frustrating, but your Down’s Syndrome must make it frustrating x2. I feel for you, Mongo.
What happened to YouTorrent?????? It sucks now … I cant find anything ,,,, what is this???????
because of this I’m telling 10 of my friends not to go see a movie this blockbuster season. I encourage you to do the same. If we all do this hopefully we can get this up to 110 million.
Why not a billion dollars? Stupid asses.
[quote comment="379028"]God is good,
can’t wait until the pirate bay goes down. theives are evil no matter how they try to justify it. why not go to work for free if you want everything to be free? ungrateful leeches and greedy worthless torrent site owners.
Follow the devil by stealing, and he will suck your soul dry. Good for them.[/quote]
P.S. Only a jerk would quote Scripture to support lawyers. I bet you would have stoned the adulteress too. Keep supporting the Pharisees because the world needs more legalism. Jerk.
[quote comment="379184"]because of this I’m telling 10 of my friends not to go see a movie this blockbuster season. I encourage you to do the same. If we all do this hopefully we can get this up to 110 million.[/quote]
Interesting idea… Maybe with a checkbox and a counter somewhere? One would check the box for every shared movie not watched in a cinema. That could easily amount to $110 Million or even 110 Million movies.
Nice straw man.
I make my donations for MPA/RIAA -mafia and download_share all new movies 24/7/2?? (one or two at time).
That way we hit them where I it hurts most. (some times gotta play B2…)
I suspect a move to suing uploaders will come soon. The reason the MPAA wanted the logs was so they could go after those uploading to TorrentSpy. The reason TorrentSpy did not want to provide the logs is they know the day the uploaders start getting served writs on their doorstep in big numbers is the day piracy starts to becomes unprofitable.
Pirates like TorrentSpy are in it for profit, they don’t want a “free Internet”. If it were all free no one would advertise on their site. They sell advertising and I bet they would sue if you stole that. LOL
Will the MPAA move over to suing uploaders in numbers? Yes and why not. The uploaders will not fight, they will roll over and settle out of court. The cost of going to court is horrendous the cost of losing even worse. Serve the uploader with a court summons and offer him to settle for $10,000 or go to court.
I heard the porn industry is looking at this as a profitable business model. I think they will pay people 5% of what ever they collect for turning in the information. All they need is an IP address. The TorrentSpy owners are broke, the bosses might like 5% of all the money collected.
We already know pornographers are scum bags, so I don’t think they will worry about their image. LOL
Of course the $111 Million is a completely pointless figure. Like anyone at Torrentspy has even 1 million sitting around.
Americans should retire their national anthem, because “Land of the free” has nothing to do with America these days!
[quote comment="378872"]Not too much of a blow. The fine was more for not cooporating with the first court judgement. Unlucky but well done TS for trying to do the best thing for it’s users.[/quote]
Exactly. Torrent Spy took the fall for us..erm. You guys i mean. heh.
“Its sad… a win for the Mafiaa, even though hopefully they will never see a dime.”
You need sites to share the information with and to contact each other. Sue the sites that offer this service to sell advertising space and how are you going to find each other?
Yes it can be done, but a lot harder than it is today. But as I suspect they will move over to suing you. They can find you. Don’t think you can hide on the Net. They find pedos easy enough.
How will you know you’re not sharing with someone who is logging it and giving it to a private detective?
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