Torrent websites proving resilient against legal claims

By Eriq Gardner

The entertainment industry is finding it tough to stamp out torrent websites. Today brings news on two fronts.

The Motion Picture Association of America has yet to convince a federal court that BitTorrent index site Isohunt is guilty of contributory copyright infringement. Judge Stephen Wilson wants the MPAA to prove that U.S. residents are pirating content using Isohunt. The defendant had previously shut down trackers to U.S. users and the entertainment industry must now figure out a way to trace specific examples of infringement on Isohunt's servers occuring in the U.S.

Meanwhile, there's been a lot of activity this week on the PirateBay front. Today, the company's acquisition by Global Gaming Factory X was approved by shareholders, despite continued attempts by Hollywood movie studios to shut down the site once and for all. Pirate Bay was down earlier this week after a Swedish district court ordered access blocked, but showing the site's resiliency, it's back up. Nobody knows whether PirateBay has really been sold or whether the acquirer has the funds or the pull to move it into a legit digital hub for entertainment content.