Hotfile To Pay $80 Million In Settlement Case With MPAA
The U.S. District Court for the Southern
District of Florida has ordered Hotfile to cease operations
unless it employscopyright filtering technologies that prevent infringement of the studios' works, the Motion Picture Association of America said Tuesday.
The judgment also awards damages against Hotfile
in the amount of $80 million.
The entry of the judgment against Hotfile marks the end of the studios' litigation against the cyberlocker and its principal, Anton Titov.
"This judgment by the court is another important step toward protecting an Internet that works for everyone," said Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.
"Sites like Hotfile that illegally profit off of the creativity and hard work of others do a serious disservice to audiences, who deserve high-quality, legitimate viewing experiences online."
The "digital fingerprinting" copyright filtering ordered by the Court is proven to work and readily available from several commercial technology providers. Major websites and content services have been using the technology for years.
Five U.S. movie studios filed a copyright infringement suit against Hotfile in 2011, alleging that the company paid incentives to users for uploading popular files to the system, that were widely shared.
The judgment comes after the Court in August 2013 found Hotfile, one of the world?s most trafficked infringing sites, liable for copyright infringement, and rejected Hotfile's "safe - harbor" defense under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The Court further held that Titov was personally liable for Hotfile's infringement.
The entry of the judgment against Hotfile marks the end of the studios' litigation against the cyberlocker and its principal, Anton Titov.
"This judgment by the court is another important step toward protecting an Internet that works for everyone," said Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.
"Sites like Hotfile that illegally profit off of the creativity and hard work of others do a serious disservice to audiences, who deserve high-quality, legitimate viewing experiences online."
The "digital fingerprinting" copyright filtering ordered by the Court is proven to work and readily available from several commercial technology providers. Major websites and content services have been using the technology for years.
Five U.S. movie studios filed a copyright infringement suit against Hotfile in 2011, alleging that the company paid incentives to users for uploading popular files to the system, that were widely shared.
The judgment comes after the Court in August 2013 found Hotfile, one of the world?s most trafficked infringing sites, liable for copyright infringement, and rejected Hotfile's "safe - harbor" defense under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The Court further held that Titov was personally liable for Hotfile's infringement.
