Some of the cases that have gone against BitTorrent or file-sharing sites Sweden-based BitTorrent search engines, The Pirate Bay, was brought up on criminal misconduct charges and TorrentSpy’s case was decided on a discovery sanction. Some of the issues in the Usenet.com case closely resemble Isohunt and TorrentSpy’s, although the company is not a BitTorrent tracker or search engine.
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.
Usenet.com is a company that enabled users to access the Usenet network and it too lost on a discovery sanction.
“United States copyright laws do not reach acts of infringement that take place entirely abroad,” Wilson, wrote in his order.
(Credit:Greg Sandoval/CNET News)
Lawyers for the MPAA, the trade group representing the six major Hollywood film studios,ugg boots cheap, are trying to convince the judge that Isohunt encouraged and contributed to the infringing activity of users. Wilson gave the MPAA until Sept. 15 to file a brief that convinces him direct infringement at the site was committed by those in the U.S. Apparently, Wilson has questions about whether U.S. residents have pirated content using Isohunt.
Isohunt judge says MPAA has yet to prove direct infringment
Ira Rothken, Isohunt's attorney
Greg Sandoval covers media and digital entertainment for CNET News. He is a former reporter for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times. E-mail Greg, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sandoCNET.