‘$100 million judgment PR stunt’: TorrentSpy
p2pnet news | P2P:- TorrentSpy says it’ll appeal the court decision ordering it to pay millions of dollars in damages to the major Hollywood studios
“What is really going on here is a Hollywood public-relations stunt,” CNET News has TorrentSpy lawyer Ira Rothken (right) saying.
“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,” he says, correctly summarising the situation.
TorrentSpy filed for bankruptcy in England last week and is without the ability to pay even a fraction of the $100 million, rendering the judgment’s dollar amount meaningless, says the story, going on:
“TorrentSpy helps users locate BitTorrent files, and since BiTorrent is a technology favored by those sharing digital files illegally, the site was known as an important tool for pirates.
“But the company argued that it never hosted any unauthorized content and shouldn’t be held responsible for the actions of its users – just as Google isn’t held accountable when people use its service to find pirated content.”
The MPAA disagreed, claiming unlike Do No Evil Google, “TorrentSpy existed primarily to help people rip off Hollywood,” says CNET.
.
.Stumble It!
millions of dollars – Pay Hollywood $110M, TorrentSpy ordered, May 8, 2008
CNET News – TorrentSpy to appeal whopper legal judgment, May 8, 2008
Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe
to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.phpNet access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
We welcome all ye scoundrels to thepiratebay.org , arrrrrrggh, shiver me timbers.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
the headline should have read
“MPAA spent 100 million in attorneys fees to sue bankrupt company”
which is almost as true as them being pirates
May 8th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
So what’s the point? Effect? In that case I’m gonna sue the MPAA for $1,000 trillion which I’m sure they could afford. Does this affect them in some way, or make me sound bigger? I’m bigger and badder and more important and more powerful than you. But why spend money on 2 years of litigation? That’s just stupid and wasteful.
Really, others will take up where the boys left off, and their time has not been wasted, as people got their files and advertisers got their money. The boys enjoyed themselves and came out with a tidy profit undoubtedly, which they can live on now while they’re enjoying semi-retirement and making other plans. They also stood up to a monster and set an example for others, who stand a better chance of winning now with new strategies and what they’ve learnt from the case. They also cost you legal fees and consumed some of your time and attention. More good things.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
What could they do with all that money? It would be useless as it would never be spent. Certainly not in a lifetime. Nor would they even have time to do anything with it, being too busy “working”.
A lot of good COULD be done with it, but they are purely selfishly driven, and are wasting their lives, and when that comes to an end, what’s left, except maybe some family if they haven’t been driven off?
Since they probably never gave a thought to their Maker, and certainly never contemplated what he would want them to do, what hope do they then have, or any who are obsessed and driven by a rapacious desire for wealth?
May 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
“TorrentSpy existed primarily to help people rip off Hollywood”. I can’t speak for them, but torrent sites usually are there to help people share files, and perhaps to also help themselves.
May 9th, 2008 at 6:23 am
google axxo filetype:torrent
I wonder if google will ever be victim of such a PR stunt like this one
May 9th, 2008 at 9:33 am
“The MPAA disagreed, claiming unlike Do No Evil Google, “TorrentSpy existed primarily to help people rip off Hollywood,”
So, gun manfactures exist primarily to help people shoot others”.
So, blank DVD manufactures exists primarily to help people rip off Hollywood.
So, computers exists primarily to help people rip off everyonelese.
Anyone see double standards lurking about?