torrentspy

Isohunt judge says MPAA has yet to prove direct infringment

File-sharing sites haven't had a great year, especially in court, but on Wednesday they received a smidgen of good news.

The Motion Picture Association of America asked a federal court to rule that Isohunt was liable for copyright violations committed by its users, but the judge in the case was unconvinced. In his order, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson said the studios had yet to prove that the Isohunt's users had broken U.S. law.

Lawyers for the MPAA, the trade group representing the six major Hollywood film studios, are trying to convince the judge that … Read more

Will 'Wolverine' benefit from (Bit)Torrent of publicity?

Outfitted with a skeleton forged from a super alloy, the comic book hero Wolverine is supposed to be indestructible.

After a raw version of the movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" leaked to the Web last month, 20th Century Fox is hoping the action pic, which debuts Friday, is nearly as durable.

Hollywood has been in a near frenzy since April 1, when someone--who has yet to be identified--leaked a copy of "Wolverine" to the Web. The fear was that the unauthorized copy would hurt ticket sales. "Wolverine" cost more than $100 million to make.

Some … Read more

Source: 'Significant' layoffs at MPAA

LOS ANGELES--Many of the major film studios have gone through a painful round of layoffs and now the industry's trade group is cutting staff, too.

The Motion Picture Association of America, much maligned by file sharers everywhere, has gone through a "significant" round of layoffs, according to a studio source. The source said the layoffs were well over 10 percent and more reductions are expected.

A spokeswoman for the MPAA confirmed the layoffs to CNET News, but declined to provide numbers or percentages. The group battles copyright infringement on behalf of the six largest film studios. How … Read more

TorrentSpy renews legal campaign against MPAA

Nearly a year since being ordered to pay the big film studios more than $100 million, TorrentSpy is launching a legal comeback.

On Tuesday evening, TorrentSpy filed an appeal to overturn a judgment issued by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper. Last May, Cooper ordered TorrentSpy, which shut its doors as a result of the legal fight with the Motion Picture Association of America, to pay nearly $111 million in damages to the MPAA for infringing the copyright of thousands of films and TV shows.

TorrentSpy was a favorite tool for those seeking bootleg films, but site operators always insisted … Read more

Court records: MPAA sought info on PirateBay founders

TorrentSpy may be gone but its attorneys continue to allege in court that the motion picture industry engaged in a spying campaign against the company as well as others, including the Pirate Bay.

TorrentSpy, a BitTorrent search engine that was driven out of business last March as a result of fighting a copyright suit filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), is seeking another chance to argue that the MPAA wronged the company when it purchased information obtained from a hacker who had pilfered company e-mail.

A federal judge threw out TorrentSpy's hacker complaint last August, saying … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 720: Lovin' Out Loud

Announcing the launch of our new dating podcast, Lovin' Out Loud! Also, Microsoft may or may not build content filtering into the Zune, by which we mean "probably will." Also, should judges decide the intent of technology in awarding boffo-size judgments against P2P search engines? And on that note, we're off to order some pizza online. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 720

Revoked NSL aimed at Internet Archive shows need for reform http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080508-revoked-nsl-aimed-at-internet-archive-shows-need-for-reform.html http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/05/07/211255

Zune to build copyright … Read more

TorrentSpy to appeal whopper legal judgment

TorrentSpy intends to appeal a court decision that requires the now-defunct search engine to pay $111 million in damages to the six largest film studios, according to the company's attorney.

Ira Rothken has defended TorrentSpy since 2006, when it was accused in a lawsuit filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) of encouraging copyright infringement. In an interview with CNET News.com on Wednesday night, Rothken said the judge's decision was an "abuse of discretion" and suggested that the large dollar amount was an attempt to draw attention to the case.

"What is … Read more

After TorrentSpy closure, what's next for MPAA?

The movie industry has seen mixed results from suing individuals for file sharing but continues to clobber BitTorrent search engines.

TorrentSpy, once one of the most popular indexes of BitTorrent files, shut down on Monday following a two-year copyright battle with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). TorrentSpy, accused in a lawsuit of encouraging copyright infringement, finally crumpled under the legal costs.

This can't come as good news to Gary Fung, chief executive of IsoHunt. His company was among a group of torrent-file search engines, which also included TorrentSpy, accused of copyright infringement in a 2006 lawsuit filed … Read more

TorrentSpy shuts down

A prolonged legal fight with the movie industry has forced TorrentSpy, BitTorrent's popular search engine, to shut down.

"The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile," said a note on TorrentSpy's front door. "We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves... we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown."

In 2006, the largest Hollywood film studios … Read more