Bittorrent search engine isoHunt has been found guilty of inducing copyright infringement by a California federal court. Most notably, the copyright infringement ruling came at the summary judgment stage and the court held that isoHunt could not claim statutory safe harbor protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because the defense is not available where a website induces copyright infringement. If you are a Bittorrent website owner who wishes to comply with copyright law, contact one of our expert copyright infringement lawyers today toll free at 866.936.7447.
The California court ruled that isoHunt engaged in "purposeful, culpable expression and conduct, aimed at promoting infringing uses of the websites." This ruling follows the Grokster precedent, in which the US Supreme Court unanimously held that Grokster had induced infringement by taking affirmative steps to foster or promote the infringing uses of the Grokster technology. Here, the court found that isoHunt had taken affirmative steps to encourage infringement through various promotional means, such as listing the top 20 highest grossing movies with links to torrent files.
If you seek copyright protection of your creative works, or if you are a Bittorrent website owner that would like advice and counsel on how you can comply with copyright law, contact one of our expert copyright infringement lawyers today.
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