One of the most popular services for downloading pirated movies and music is shutting down after a court ruling in California. The Canadian founder of isoHunt is even being ordered to pay 110 million euros as compensation to the Motion Picture Association of America.
isoHunt operates as a search engine through which users can find and exchange files via the BitTorrent system, which is also used in other similar services such as PirateBay.
In a legal dispute that lasted more than seven years, the main argument of Gary Fang, founder of isoHunt, was that the service does not host files but merely allows users to exchange files that are stored on their own computers.
Fang argued in court that he cannot be held responsible for the distribution of any pirated material by users of the service. He also noted that isoHunt removed from its lists the files that had been reported as pirated.
Fang had been sued by major entertainment companies such as Disney, Paramount, and Twentieth Century Fox, which accused him of willful infringement of their intellectual property.
Ultimately, Fang agreed to reach a settlement and the case was resolved in a California court.
The settlement agreement provides that isoHunt will shut down immediately and Fang will pay $110 million to the union of American filmmakers. The court nevertheless recognized that the defendant is unlikely to find such a large sum and the compensation will probably be limited to $2 to $3 million.
The American Film Association welcomed the court decision, while Fang argued that the music and film industries could avoid piracy if they offered their products simultaneously worldwide and sold their digital releases at lower prices.
