TorrentSpy Won't Pay $111 Million Court Order, Lawyer Says

[DAVID FARBER <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
> Date: May 11, 2008 6:40:33 AM EDT
> To: Dewayne-Net Technology List <xyzzy () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] TorrentSpy Won't Pay $111 Million Court  
> Order, Lawyer Says
>
> TorrentSpy Won't Pay $111 Million Court Order, Lawyer Says
> By David Kravets
> May 08, 2008 | 5:54:14 PM
> <http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/torrentspy-wont.html>
>
> A day after a U.S. judge dinged TorrentSpy with one of the largest  
> fines in copyright history, the lawyer for the torrent-tracking  
> search engine said Thursday the $111 million judgment won't get paid.
>
> Nevis-based Valence Media, the owner of TorrentSpy, filed for  
> bankruptcy protection in England last week "and has no appreciable  
> assets," attorney Ira Rothken said. "This was a Hollywood publicity  
> stunt."
>
> The Motion Picture Association of America sued the search engine in  
> Los Angeles federal court, alleging the site facilitated copyright  
> infringement of Hollywood movies. The MPAA won a default judgment  
> last year after TorrentSpy refused to turn over internal documents,  
> and a federal judge levied the $111 million penalty and ordered the  
> site never to return online.
>
> "It certainly is not a lesson for other search engines to look at  
> what the rules are as they relate to dot-torrent files," Rothken  
> said. "There was no analysis of the copyright."
>
> Elizabeth Kaltman, an MPAA spokeswoman, said "We will pursue  
> enforcement of the judgment."
>
> The legality of torrent-tracking services has never been litigated  
> on the merits in the United States, said Charles Baker, a Houston IP  
> lawyer who defended Grokster and is Limewire's attorney in a case  
> accusing the peer-to-peer software maker of facilitating copyright  
> infringement.
>
> The MPAA, he said, wants "other torrent owners and operators to look  
> at the $111 million figure and say, 'I'm getting out of the  
> business.'"
>
> The TorrentSpy case, Baker said, "is another example of the studios  
> eating these guys to death. They haven't tried the merits of the  
> case."
>
> [snip]

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