Download Squad
- December 26, 2009
Court rules against IsoHunt and may be forced to shut down… without a trial!
One of the largest and most popular BitTorrent search sites, IsoHunt, has just had a court judgment against it, in favor of Columbia Pictures. You’re probably wondering what the big deal is: IsoHunt deals with illegal movies… so it’s just a matter of time before it gets shut down… right?
Well, kind of! A judge decided that IsoHunt ‘induced theft’ (i.e. copyright infringement), and thus it could be shut down without a trial. This is what’s known as a ’summary judgment’ in legal terms: when something is so obviously illegal (or legal) as to not require a trial, a summary judgment can be issued. In this case, the judge ruled that IsoHunt is similar enough to Napster and Grokster, and they were found illegal, and thus summarily issued a judgment — just like that!
“The material facts supporting Plaintiffs’ [the movie studio's] claims are almost wholly unrebutted,” the judge said — basically, either the IsoHunt lawyers are incompetent or… well… I don’t know. Maybe… IsoHunt is actually guilty… gosh. What a horrible thought.
Of course an appeal can be launched — and we assume, this time around, with a better legal strategy. In general though, few Torrent indexes or trackers return from the brink. If you use IsoHunt — and I can’t believe I’m saying this, because IsoHunt is awesome — you should probably start looking for an alternative.
[via Michael Geist (includes a link to the summary judgment itself, if you're interested)]
Court rules against IsoHunt and may be forced to shut down… without a trial! originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BitTorrent – Columbia Pictures – Copyright infringement – IsoHunt – Napster
