MPAA wins copyright case against TorrentSpy
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The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has won a lawsuit against the operators of&#160;TorrentSpy.com, with the judge ruling in favor of the MPAA because the Web site operators tampered with evidence.In a ruling that could have implications for the privacy of Web site users, Judge Florence-Marie Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, ruled that TorrentSpy has infringed MPAA copyrights in a default judgment against the operators of the site.Cooper, in a ruling made public Monday, agreed with the MPAA that defendants Justin Bunnell, Forrest Parker, Wes Parker and Valence Media had destroyed evidence after another judge had ordered them to keep server logs, user IP (Internet Protocol) addresses and other information. TorrentSpy billed itself as a central location to find files distributed on BitTorrent P-to-P (peer-to-peer) networks.The defendants&#39; conduct was &quot;obstreperous,&quot; Cooper wrote in her decision. &quot;They have engaged in widespread and systematic efforts to destroy evidence and have provided false testimony under oath in a effort to hide evidence of such destruction,&quot; she wrote.TorrentSpy had located its servers in the Netherlands and argued that Dutch law protected them from having to turn over server logs and other information. In May, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian ruled that TorrentSpy must preserve server data logs held in random access memory, or RAM.That decision was widely criticized as being an unreasonable standard because information held in RAM is temporary, but Cooper, in her new ruling, said TorrentSpy destroyed or altered several types of evidence, including user IP addresses, discussion forum postings about the trading of movies and moderator identities. &quot;A substantial number of items of evidence have been destroyed,&quot; she wrote. &quot;Defendants were on notice that this information would be of importance in this case.&quot;TorrentSpy&#39;s lawyer Ira Rothken said his client had concerns about protecting users&#39; privacy. TorrentSpy will appeal Cooper&#39;s decision, he said.&quot;It&#39;s not a ruling on the merits of the case,&quot; he said. &quot;One person&#39;s willful destruction of evidence is another person&#39;s willful attempt to comply with customer privacy policies.&quot;The ruling, if it stands, could expose private information about Web site users in many civil lawsuits, Rothken added. &quot;This doesn&#39;t apply only to TorrentSpy, but to anyone who operates a Web site,&quot; he said.A ruling on damages in case will happen at a later date.The MPAA, which filed the case against TorrentSpy in February 2006, applauded Cooper&#39;s ruling. &quot;The court&#39;s decision ... sends a potent message to future defendants that this egregious behavior will not be tolerated by the judicial system,&quot; John Malcolm, the MPAA&#39;s executive vice president and director of worldwide antipiracy operations, said in a statement. &quot;The sole purpose of TorrentSpy and sites like it is to facilitate and promote the unlawful dissemination of copyrighted content. TorrentSpy is a one-stop shop for copyright infringement.&quot;
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SAN FRANCISCO - Representatives for the music and movie industries have filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appeals court decision in which companies that enable peer-to-peer (P-to-P) file trading networks were absolved of liability for copyright violations by users of those networks.
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Founders of TorrentSpy, a BitTorrent search-engine and tracker-hosting site currently under legal assault from Hollywood studios, have launched a new company called FileRights designed to help copyright owners keep their content from being shared or indexed online, the new company announced Monday.
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A US federal appeals court ruled in favor of peer-to-peer software makers this week, stating that the companies behind the Grokster and Morpheus services are not liable for copyright infringement due to the actions of their users.
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File sharing network Morpheus lost a crucial case earlier this week, calling into question the service's future and handing the entertainment industry a major victory. A U.S. District Judge ruled it had aided copyright infringement on a massive scale.
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A video download site that had been exposed as a front for the MPAA to catch those who download copyrighted content, as well as those who may have already downloaded it, has been taken offline.
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Court terminates case, ruling in favor of movie studios in copyright case against popular BitTorrent indexing service TorrentSpy.com.
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A US court has upheld the legitimacy of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing application Morpheus, finding against 28 of the world&#39;s largest entertainment companies which had alleged that the P2P firm&#39;s software violates copyright law.
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A federal court ruling Wednesday against StreamCast Networks, the owner of the Morpheus software, would appear to be another blow against peer-to-peer file sharing.
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The makers of two leading file-sharing programs are not legally liable for the songs, movies and other copyright works swapped online by their users, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday in a stinging blow to the entertainment industry.
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A U.S. federal judge has ruled the Morpheus software program promoted illegal file sharing.
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A federal appeals court offered sweet music for online file sharers and dealt a bitter defeat to the entertainment industry Thursday, ruling that two companies that make popular file-sharing programs aren&#39;t responsible for copyright violations by people ...
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The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on August 19th that Grokster and StreamCast could not be held responsible for copyright infringement, because they exercised no control over the
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A Beijing court has convicted and fined operators of a pirated DVD shop Monday, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) said.
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A judge ruled against the BitTorrent site in its case against the MPAA this week, accusing it of tampering with evidence.
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Copyright law doesn't always win the day.  The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling in Golan v. Gonzales is a major victory for the First Amendment and the overwhelming majority of creators.
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Streamcast downcast Another file-sharing software maker has been found guilty of causing copyright infringement. A US judge has said that the Morpheus software produced by StreamCast breaks the law.â¦