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Defunct TorrentSpy fined $110 million, will appeal

The MPAA is claiming victory following a lawsuit in the US, but the torrenting continues apace

The Motion Picture Association of America is trumpeting a victory against the TorrentSpy search site, and has issued a press release (PDF) that says:

In a significant victory for the major Hollywood studios, a federal judge in Los Angeles has issued a $110 million judgment for the infringement of thousands of popular copyrighted motion pictures and television shows. The court also issued a permanent injunction prohibiting defendant from further infringing any of the studios' copyrighted works.

In Los Angeles, District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper fined TorrentSpy an amazing $30,000 per copyright infringement. Over 3,699 films and shows, that comes to almost $111 million. Not that it seems likely to collect. According to Reuters: "Court records show that Valence [the parent company] and TorrentSpy principles Justin Bunnell and Wes Parker have filed for bankruptcy."

Nonethelss, TorrentSpy's lawyer, Ira Rothken, has told CNet he plans to appeal.

"What is really going on here is a Hollywood public-relations stunt," Rothken said. "The reason for the size of the judgment was so a bunch of news organizations would write that 'a $100 million judgment was issued against a bunch of pirates' when, in fact, it was declared against a company with no appreciable assets that has already declared bankruptcy."

Also, because Cooper terminated the case, Rothken says "the case has no precedent-setting value because TorrentSpy never got its day in court. This may come as good news to IsoHunt, one of TorrentSpy's former competitors, which has also been sued by the MPAA for allegedly violating copyright," adds CNet.

Whether the TorrentSpy case will make any other difference remains to be seen. A quick Google finds pages of BitTorrent listings. It will be interesting to see if any sites now close down voluntarily.

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