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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



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Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy
#8375074 - 05/07/08 09:30 PM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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This reminds me of when they killed off Napster. I wonder what implications this will have in the future. The article seems to think this will deter future behavior, but I think they're underestimating the internet community on this one.
Source
Quote:
In a major win for Hollywood studios, a California federal judge has ordered TorrentSpy to pay some $110 million in damages for infringing the copyright of thousands of films and TV shows through its BitTorrent search engine.
The Los Angeles judge, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, also issued a permanent injunction against TorrentSpy, which was once one of the most popular indexes of BitTorrent files before it shut down in March after a two-year copyright battle with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The company closed its site on March 24, citing financial hardship and a desire to protect the privacy of its users.
MPAA CEO Dan Glickman said the judgment should serve as warning to other search services of file-sharing applications.
"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," he said in a statement.
The judge ordered TorrentSpy to pay $30,000 per copyright infringement--for 3,699 films and shows. That works out to be worth $110,970,000.
How that amount will be paid is unclear. A call to TorrentSpy's attorney was not immediately returned.
The judgment puts a fine point on another long battle between technologists and copyright holders.
The studios originally sued TorrentSpy in February 2006, alleging that the site promoted and contributed to online copyright infringement by helping people locate illegally copied films and television shows on the Internet. Last December, a federal judge sided with the MPAA by saying that TorrentSpy had destroyed evidence that would make a fair trial possible.
According to the court, TorrentSpy operators had intentionally modified or deleted directory headings naming copyrighted titles and forum posts that explained how to find specific copyrighted works; concealed IP addresses of users; and withheld the names and addresses of forum moderators. The company had previously been fined $30,000 for violations of discovery orders and were warned of severe sanctions if they continued to ignore the orders.
TorrentSpy's attorney, Ira Rothken, called that ruling "draconian in nature and unfair." He said he did not believe any data was intentionally destroyed, and that some actions were taken to protect the privacy of TorrentSpy users.
Rothken also said at the time that TorrentSpy would appeal any decision on damages.
Still, the permanent injunction prohibits Valence Media, operator of TorrentSpy, from engaging in any activity that "encourages, promotes or solicits, or knowingly facilitates, enables or assists, copyright infringement," according to the court.
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SneezingPenis
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: Ferris]
#8375244 - 05/07/08 10:13 PM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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let the string of bitching and moaning commence from people that are trying to justify theft of intellectual property!
I say "chalk one up for the good guys" and give out a preemptive middle finger to all the losers that think they have the right to steal whatever they are able to.
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Legend9123



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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8375540 - 05/07/08 11:27 PM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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-------------------- Those who would give up a little freedom to get a little security shall soon have neither. -Benjamin Franklin
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supra
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8375661 - 05/07/08 11:48 PM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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you do know that torrent files themselves contain no copyrighted material, on top of that TorrentSpy actually contained no torrent files, but was just a search engine through and index of torrent files...more or less it is a google for torrent files. They have technically done nothing wrong, and most likely never had a single copyrighted file on any of their servers, it is the users of the service that are infringing on copyrights, not the company.
More like chalk one up to the dumbass judge and MPAA and RIAA that thing that 1kb torrent files are an entire movie.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=metallica+torrent&btnG=Search
shit...time to sue google too, for indexing torrents
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0geu96JkyJIPOoAfONXNyoA?p=harry+potter+torrent&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&ei=UTF-8
might as well go for yahoo while were at it
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=windows+xp+torrent&FORM=MSNH
and microsoft too (i find it ironic that MSN will find bittorrent files for windows)
anyways, my point is clear...and no I am not saying piracy is right, just that TorrentSpy did nothing wrong, and broke no copyrights.
peace
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8375892 - 05/08/08 12:23 AM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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Quote:
YawningAnus said: let the string of bitching and moaning commence from people that are trying to justify theft of intellectual property!
I say "chalk one up for the good guys" and give out a preemptive middle finger to all the losers that think they have the right to steal whatever they are able to.
Point out which part of that sentence was a bitch or a moan, sheesh.
*Reignore*
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SneezingPenis
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: Ferris]
#8376009 - 05/08/08 12:55 AM (16 years, 15 days ago) |
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I was referring to the posts to follow.
anyway... intellectual property is an intangible thing. The CD's that get ripped are not the property, but rather ideas contained in them. If a business was going around holding the back doors to movie theaters and helping people break into cd shops... would you find that illegal?
"well we never watched the movies, nor did we ever set foot in a theatre or cd shop..."
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SneezingPenis
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8378028 - 05/08/08 03:24 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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also.. dont any of you find it nominally fucked up that Torrentspy made money by helping people steal property?
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Baby_Hitler
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8378062 - 05/08/08 03:34 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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At least they didn't piss on a dying disabled woman.
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SneezingPenis
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#8378595 - 05/08/08 05:48 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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ah... so what is the price of tea in china now?
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AaronEvil
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8379002 - 05/08/08 07:34 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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I really think the MPAA is going about this the wrong way. I cant think of a situation where fighting technology is good for a business.
I think hulu.com is the perfect example of how technology can benefit a media company. Let people see it for free but throw commercials in. Advertising is probably the best solution for these companies. Make money off other companies while making the consumer happy.
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SneezingPenis
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: AaronEvil]
#8379247 - 05/08/08 08:18 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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well, I agree with that. But what can they do about the damage done so far? granted, they should have gotten the drop on the world and began buying up domains to host and stream television, sell dvd subscriptions... but all that has now been done by other companies. And sure, mayeb they should try to embrace new technology and try to get it under control rather than suing everyone they can....
but what can you do when people are looting in a mass frenzy? bring the hammer down and send in Samuel L Jackson.
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johnm214



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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8379327 - 05/08/08 08:33 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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What a terrible article. I want to know what the evidence of infringement was. Did they comply w/ DMCA notices? Was their evidence of intent?
If not, I don't see how the fine and especially the injunction could follow.
EIther way, the fine is probably unconstitutional.
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Baby_Hitler
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: johnm214]
#8379473 - 05/08/08 09:02 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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This belongs in the Political Discussion forum.
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: Baby_Hitler]
#8379603 - 05/08/08 09:25 PM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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Quote:
Baby_Hitler said: This belongs in the Political Discussion forum.
It could also fall under Music, Art and Literature, but it's definitely applicable to Technology.
One of the original queries pertained to how it would effect the medium btw.
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Seuss
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: Ferris]
#8380751 - 05/09/08 03:46 AM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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> a California federal judge has ordered TorrentSpy to pay some $110 million in damages for infringing the copyright of thousands of films and TV shows
What copyright was infringed? There were no copies on the site. There were no torrents (which are indexes of copies) on the site. The site was a search engine for torrents. How can a site by liable for copyright infringement when they did not copy anything. They didn't even point to copyrighted material. Absolutely insane. Under this logic, every single library in the US is guilty of copyright infringement because of their card catalog which indexes copyrighted books.
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johnm214



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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: Seuss]
#8380778 - 05/09/08 04:14 AM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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well there are plenty of other statutes that they probably could be liable under, but the copyright infringement was probably contributory infringement a'la the grokster decision.
I don't think there's actually a statute that outlaws such, rather the court simply created the theory that if you assist a third party under certain circumstances that you're liable for their infringement.
That's why I said this is a shitty report. What was the evidence they intended for their service to be used this way?
Syllabus of grokster:
Quote:
Held: One who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, going beyond mere distribution with knowledge of third-party action, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using the device, regardless of the device’s lawful uses.
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Ferris
PsychedelicJourneyman



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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: johnm214]
#8380801 - 05/09/08 04:52 AM (16 years, 14 days ago) |
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Am I to understand that Google, etc avoid this law just by adding additional content, so it can't be claimed to be used for the sole purpose of infringment?
So Torrentspys succesors (ie isohunt, piratebay, etc), should just add some nominal additional content and claim that to be its purpose, thereby avoiding suit? That's really lame.
It's kinda like how strip joints are illegal in my county, but we have a topless rv sales floor where the sales girls will give you lap dances for money. They really are the nicest sales girls I've ever met. They're single rv out back isn't really worth buying though.
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spock1
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy *DELETED* [Re: SneezingPenis]
#8410962 - 05/16/08 08:53 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Post deleted by spock1Reason for deletion: .
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supra
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: spock1]
#8411196 - 05/16/08 10:26 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Quote:
spock1 said:
Quote:
YawningAnus said: I say "chalk one up for the good guys" and give out a preemptive middle finger to all the losers that think they have the right to steal whatever they are able to.
I won't complain when they torture you to death.
lol...yeah, it is kind of funny in the big picture of things, even if these artists music/movies/whatever is being 'stolen', they still make more than enough money. It doesn't bother me in the least to think that any said superstar is going to be able to afford one less condo in an exotic location. I think 4 houses over half a million should suffice...
peace
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Baby_Hitler
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Re: Studios win $100 million judgment against TorrentSpy [Re: supra]
#8411440 - 05/16/08 11:35 PM (16 years, 6 days ago) |
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Weird Al has some wisdom to share on this issue.
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