Movie studios win $110 million ruling against TorrentSpy

"Substantial money judgment sends a strong message"

8 May 2008 11:21 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

In one of the largest fines ever handed down for copyright theft, file-sharing site TorrentSpy has been ordered to pay $110 million in damages to the Motion Picture Association of America for copyright infringement.

The ruling, brought by all six major Hollywood studios, orders that TorrentSpy must pay $30,000 for "each of the 3,699 infringements shown".

"This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites", said Dan Glickman, Chairman and CEO of the MPAA.

"The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders."

TorrentSpy shut down on 24 March with the site's owners filing for bankruptcy. A message on the site reads: "The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results in simply too hostile".