MPAA Wins File-Sharing Case Against Torrentspy

Posted by Eriq Gardner

The Motion Picture Association of America just announced that a federal judge in Los Angeles has terminated a case against Valence Media, the parent company of file-sharing service Torrentspy.com. The ruling moves the case straight to the penalty phase, where a judge will determine how much Valence owes for copyright infringement.

The development is an unusual one in an unusual case. After the MPAA accused Torrentspy of concealing evidence, Valence accused MPAA's legal team of paying a Canadian hacker $15,000  to illicitly gain information.

In its decision today, the Los Angeles federal court ruled that “although termination of a case is a harsh sanction appropriate only in extraordinary circumstance, the circumstances of this case are sufficiently extraordinary to merit such a sanction.”  The court found that Torrentspy's evidence was “not deleted or modified negligently, but intentionally in direct response to the institution of this lawsuit.” 

John Malcolm, executive vp and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said in a statement that “The court’s decision is a significant victory for MPAA member companies and sends a potent message to future defendants that this egregious behavior will not be tolerated by the judicial system.”

"This is not a ruling on the merits of the case," says Ira Rothken, the attorney representing Valence. "Because (Torrentspy) is a search enging and private, it disagrees with the sanction and believes it is disapproportionate and will be overturned on appeal."

Rothken says that search engines have an obligation to protect consumer privacy. "It's ironic for the MPAA to tout the inappropriateness of shielding evidence when the organization paid a hacker," says Rothken.

Also: Our sisters over at THR's Reel Pop blog are on the story too.