IsoHunt Agrees To Shut Down And 'Pay' $110 Million

from the which-will-never-get-paid dept

Thu, Oct 17th 2013 11:49am — Mike Masnick

Just this morning I'd been putting together a long and involved post highlighting how some of the MPAA's actions in the IsoHunt case raised serious questions about their overall strategy, but I now need to go back and revise and update that post as the news has come down that IsoHunt and the MPAA have "settled" the case with IsoHunt agreeing to "pay" $110 million and shut down. Of course, IsoHunt won't pay $110 million. In court recently, even the MPAA's lawyers admitted that IsoHunt would be dead if the court awarded as little as $2 million. But, the MPAA wants that bogus $110 million number to throw around, just as they wanted to toss around the $105 million that Limewire settled for a couple years ago.

Of course, even if IsoHunt did pay that kind of money, how much would go to artists?

Unfortunately, there were many, many problems with the IsoHunt case in the first place. It was a clear case of bad facts making bad law -- or what Eric Goldman has referred to as the difference between real law and file sharing rule. It's clear, for example, that there was a tremendous amount of infringement done via IsoHunt. But there are serious questions about whether or not the liability for that should fall on IsoHunt as a torrent search engine. IsoHunt remains really the only significant case where the court has accepted Hollywood's bizarre interpretation of "red flag knowledge" in copyright infringement. And, really, that's why the MPAA wanted so damn badly to get this case finished without an appeal.

Now, unfortunately, the MPAA can continue to point to the rulings in IsoHunt, including many of the more problematic claims around inducement liability and red flag knowledge, knowing that they can't be directly challenged in that case any more. You can understand why IsoHunt settled. The company had already lost the key fights, and it was going to get hit with a giant sum to pay no matter what -- clearly more than it could ever pay. So why go through the process of continuing the court fight, when a settlement just gets it over and done with? At that point, the quibble is just about what bogus number the MPAA gets to lead the press release with, and $110 million was apparently the winning ticket. It wouldn't have made a difference if it was $1.1 million or $1.1 billion, the result is basically the same.

Amusingly, Chris Dodd is out there claiming that this is some sort of victory for innovation:

"Today’s settlement is a major step forward in realizing the enormous potential of the Internet as a platform for legitimate commerce and innovation,” said former Sen. Chris Dodd, chairman and chief executive of the MPAA. “It also sends a strong message that those who build businesses around encouraging, enabling, and helping others to commit copyright infringement are themselves infringers, and will be held accountable for their illegal actions.”

Of course, it does nothing of the sort. If the shutting down of Napster, Grokster, Aimster and Limewire failed to make that point, why will IsoHunt's shutdown and unpayable fine make that point any stronger? Either way, I'll have a bit more on this case soon, once I've had a chance to rewrite that other post in light of this latest turn of events.

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Filed Under: copyright, gary fung, inducement, red flag knowledge, settlement
Companies: columbia studios, isohunt, mpaa

92 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 11:58am

ISOHunt has been giving the MPAA far too much ammo by letting them set extremely bad precedents.
I'm happy they won't be giving anymore ammo to them, but I'm sad to see them end like this.

Farewell ISOHunt :(
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- pityrules (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:27pm
  
  Re:
  Can you please explain how they let them set bad precedents? What should they have done differently?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - bob, 18 Oct 2013 @ 4:31am
    
    How about not take others work?
    Yeah, that's what they should have done differently. Instead of nurturing piracy, they could have built a nice system that encouraged people to support artists. But no, they just took like thieves. Good riddance to them.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - That One Guy (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 5:09am
      
      Re: How about not take others work?
      Sorry, were you talking about IsoHunt or Hollywood there, the comment could go either way.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 11:59am

On another planet
"Today�s settlement is a major step forward in realizing the enormous potential of the Internet as a platform for legitimate commerce and innovation,�
Wouldn't it be nice if he explained how this is a "major step"?
'Coz even when I try and start with "Isohunt are the Devil incarnate in pirate form" and try and go from there to "legitimate commerce and innovation on the internet" I have to admit... I'm drawing a blank.
But then from everything I've ever read that Mr Dodd has said, logical steps are not his strong suit.
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:11pm
  
  Re: On another planet
  Why would he? Critical thinking is dead and dusted. Almost no one would give Dodd's statements a second thought because if you agree w/ him it doesn't matter and if you don't you're in such a tiny, microscopic, minority that pays attention to such things it also doesn't matter, especially to these clowns who never have to justify anything they can get more easily through lawfare.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
  
  bob, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:10pm
  
  Re: On another planet
  Let me explain it to you. If I make something that can easily be transmitted digitally, it still takes time and energy and often real materials to produce it. If losers like IsoHunt or some of the other cheapass comment writers around here simply pass it around without paying their fair share of the development costs, I stop producing things.
  
  One day when you get a real job and you get hit by thieves, you'll understand.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:16pm
    
    Re: Re: On another planet
    Let me explain it to you. If I make something that can easily be transmitted digitally, it still takes time and energy and often real materials to produce it. If losers like IsoHunt or some of the other cheapass comment writers around here simply pass it around without paying their fair share of the development costs, I stop producing things.
    
    One day when you get a real job and you get hit by thieves, you'll understand.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:18pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: On another planet
      Hey, I copied that work of yours and didn't pay you. You gonna sue me? :P
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
        
        bob, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:30pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: On another planet
        Why? In this case, I'm just happy to find another kindred soul who understands just how bad IsoHunt was for artists. So consider yourself gifted a free license. Now if you did the same thing with something more substantial, I would not hesitate to sue you.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        PaulT (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 12:23am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: On another planet
        "So consider yourself gifted a free license"
        
        It cost nothing for you to grant his that free licence, yet you claim that if he copied without having you permission first then it would have cost you something tangible.
        
        This is why you will never win this argument. You pick and choose your argument at random depending on whether you agree with something or not.
        
        "Now if you did the same thing with something more substantial"
        
        Define "substantial". No, a larger number of 0s and 1s in an order that happen to combine into a media file does not make something "sustantial".
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:59pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: On another planet
        And why should he sue you if he created and shared just for the enjoyment of doing so.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - pityrules (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:30pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: On another planet
      Yet, report after report shows that torrent sites do not hurt the entertainment industry. A lot of people still manage to flourish in their development and sales despite (because of?) sites like isohunt. Perhaps if you did more research or made a better product this would not be the case.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - steell (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:21pm
    
    Re: Re: On another planet
    We already understand. You have the reasoning ability of a Fruit Fly, and the imagination of a gnat.
    Thanks for sharing your last two IQ points with us.
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  - Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:36pm
    
    Re: Re: On another planet
    Marked as ""funny", because it is.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:57pm
    
    Re: Re: On another planet
    And there will always be people who will be very happy to create without payment and to share that even if they don't get paid for it and that will outrank people like you bob.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - happy2bhere429, 22 Oct 2013 @ 3:01pm
    
    Re: Re: On another planet
    Actually, by law, once a person purchases any kind of content they are allowed to share it. As long as any member of the staff of IsoHunt actually owned any content that they put on their site, it is not considered pirating. It is called sharing. People do it all the time. Otherwise, every single person who bought a book, dvd, etc., then either gave it away or sold it would be considered pirates as well.
    
    And for as much money as the "artists" in Hollywood demand for making a movie, and as much as the staff gets paid, the lawsuit is a joke. I work harder raising my child to be a successful, independent, respectful young lady than all of them do making a stupid movie or show. I won't go to the movies. I won't buy movies. I don't watch tv. Why should I, or anyone else, put money in their pocket when they don't give a damn about the people who actually pay them--the public that pays to watch their stuff?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
silverscarcat (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:04pm

Just another reason...
Why I shall never, EVER give the MPAA any of my money for the rest of my life.

I used Isohunt to get stuff that was no longer available anywhere.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:08pm

And nothing of value has been lost.

Seriously, there are hundreds more sites to take its place.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:14pm

Actions for Creators
Since the MPAA is claiming they get $110 million, perhaps all those content creators who are not bing paid because money isn't being made should demand their cut!
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:19pm

ISOHunt? What's that?
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- charliebrown (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 11:53pm
  
  Re: ISOHunt? What's that?
  Yes, I used it a couple of times back in 2006. I didn't find what I was looking for. I'd forgotten it even existed!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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out_of_the_blue, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:22pm

IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
So another grifter is shut down. Boo-hoo, pirates. You've LOST as always when your piratey notions get to a real court.

But will Mistaken Mike or the pirates learn anything from this? That "monetizing" other people's property isn't permitted? -- HELL NO! Mike mentions Napster and others as if a string of horrible mistakes for copyright owners, when in fact, it's the ONLY possible action that can be taken against STEALING OF CONTENT.
Actual user testimonial: Techdirt helps me think clearly because provides an obviously wrong reference point.
08:22:16[j-485-7]
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:27pm
  
  Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
  If they had developed their own similar legal alternatives, they'd be absolutely rolling in money and these sites wouldn't exist. Napster tried to work with MPAA to develop a working legal method for the site to exist and were rebuffed.
  
  Since apparently these illegal pirate sites make bajillions of dollars.
  
  Piracy is not the problem, it's the fact the industry is spending more time on lawsuits than bothering with innovating the pirating sites out of existance.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:30pm
  
  Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
  Oh look, a flat-out lie. Shocking.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- weneedhelp (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:34pm
  
  Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
  Hey blue... if you dont tell anyone my penis is made of wood... I wont tell anyone about the splinters in your mouth.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Rikuo (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:45pm
    
    Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
    This is my LOL of the day. Stand up and take a bow!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:38pm
  
  Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
  Piracy is almost always a service issue, rather than a consumption issue. In straitened economic times, one of the first things to go is the "luxury" budget. And seeing as there's so much media out there, there's also a time budget. If you make it simple, easy and valuable for consumers, then you have the potential for a huge success.
  
  Examples of this include the iPod, the Samsung Galaxy series, games consoles from the mid-90s.
  
  The MPAA is the opposite of this.
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  - Shadow Dragon (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 1:10pm
    
    Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
    I think it's because of they want to control the flow of content as well as the price. I forgot who said that they j u st can't compete with free.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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    bob, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:12pm
    
    Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
    A service issue? If that were true, then places like IsoHunt would have dried up and disappeared when Netflix, Hulu, iTunes etc came along. But no. Some people like to get something on the cheap. They don't want to share with the artists.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - steell (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:25pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
      You seriously need to buy a clue!
      
      A whole two seconds of thought by any normal person would conclude with the realization that the service issue has not been solved. It's barely been addressed.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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        bob, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:32pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
        Nah. Netflix is easier than dealing with torrents. So is iTunes. But you probably think that being asked to help the artists pay for health insurance is a real terrible imposition. And so you'll rationalize your theft forever.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        silverscarcat (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:16pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
        I dunno...
        
        When i tried using Netflix before, I got serious slowdown issues that barely allowed it to run.
        
        Conversely, when I use bittorrent to get shows that aren't for sale and not available anywhere, I can get that stuff pretty quickly, all things considered.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        btrussell (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 4:48pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
        You are an expert on torrents are you pirate bobuoy?
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        PaulT (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 12:35am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
        "Netflix is easier than dealing with torrents."
        
        Yes, it is. HOWEVER, the morons who you worship make life extremely difficult for them. They won't licence new content to Netflix for streaming, and keep revoking rights on catalogue content, forcing it to be removed. They won't licence anything to Netflix for streaming to half the countries on the planet. Some studios refuse to licence any content at all.
        
        Yes Netflix is easier than piracy when the content is available. But due purely to the actions of your favourite industry, that choice is not there for all content. So torrenting is often the easiest method available for content that's not on Netflix.
        
        Why is this basic fact so difficult for you to grasp?
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        Anonymous Coward, 19 Oct 2013 @ 9:39pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
        Tough shit. Do you foreigners have so little pride and worthwhile culture that you can't live without American content? Seems so. Maybe you should work on that. Or immerse yourself in the garbage that comes out of Nigeria or Bollywood.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        PaulT (profile), 24 Oct 2013 @ 3:46am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
        Why is it only morons why comment on these things?
        
        "Do you foreigners have so little pride and worthwhile culture that you can't live without American content?"
        
        Are you so stupid and ill informed that you don't know how much FOREIGN content Netflix offers to xenophobic morons like yourself? Maybe you should educate yourself. Does the fact that British, Asian and European content is available on US Netflix mean you have no pride or culture? Well, considering the number of foreign properties you insist on remaking, maybe there's a point you're trying to avoid admitting there...
        
        "Or immerse yourself in the garbage that comes out of Nigeria or Bollywood."
        
        So, in your world only American and Nollywood/Bollywood content exists? You probably are that ignorant.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 1:55pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
        NetFlix could be a viable solution if the studios would allow them to carry more mainstream content. Of course they don't, and they put extreme limits on the streaming portion of their content, thus hobbling the horse that could win the race.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - squall_seawave (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 5:13pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: IsoHunt never had ANY products except stolen!
      well netflix is a tentative step in the right direction but still if i want to see justice league it is torrent or nothing since there is no legal recourse to buy
      
      if i want an old psx game is torrent because there is no recourse to buy because oh surprise copyright issues (i am looking at you blood omen)
      
      if i want to see daria in their original format is torrenting because licensing made a nightmare to get the original songs
      
      now recently in another topic it showed there was a tv show for free in the owner page it was the most torrented tv show
      
      some people like to get something cheap i dont deny this most will sacrifice price for convenience
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:25pm

The MPAA should pay taxes on that $110 million
In exchange for the MPAA getting that bogus $110 million dollar number to float around, the IRS should tell the MPAA that they need to pay taxes on that $110 million they'll mostly never get.

I'd say a net loss of $36.5 million (at the 35% tax rate on US corporations, even if the MPAA isn't technically a corporation) would be a fair trade for the IsoHunt ruling, now wouldn't you?
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  out_of_the_blue, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:29pm
  
  Re: The MPAA should pay taxes on that $110 million
  @ AC:
  I'd say a net loss of $36.5 million (at the 35% tax rate on US corporations, even if the MPAA isn't technically a corporation) would be a fair trade for the IsoHunt ruling, now wouldn't you?
  
  NO, I wouldn't. But I WOULD say, taking off on your creative taxing idea, that you pirates should pay taxes on the value of the content that you've been getting for free. Particularly as it's a form of unearned income.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - weneedhelp (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:44pm
    
    Re: Re: The MPAA should pay taxes on that $110 million
    My chains are paper thin, and they're welded with ink
    Sealed inside a legal trap, so tight blood don't leak
    A contract with the devil for a life of disdain
    See me in the limelight, an indentured slave.
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  - Rikuo (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:47pm
    
    Re: Re: The MPAA should pay taxes on that $110 million
    Taxation by free Youtube vids watched? Great idea blue.
    /sarcmarc
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:58pm
    
    Re: Re: The MPAA should pay taxes on that $110 million
    "... pirates should pay taxes on the value..."
    
    There it is... the magic "value" word, which answers all your questions:
    
    - The "value" of a bucket o' bits is inherently nil.
    - The "value" of the content is assigned by the consumer; if it's not something you ever would have paid for, but you downloaded it anyway, the value = "curiosity" = nil.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 1:28pm
    
    Re: Re: The MPAA should pay taxes on that $110 million
    Hey, my point isn't that we should tax innovators to death. My point is that if the MPAA insists that piracy is losing them tons of money, then why shouldn't we the tax payers see some benefit when they get these outrageous 10 million dollar plus rulings against infringers who don't even have anywhere close to that kind of cash?
    
    If they want to insist that the penalties for piracy and infringement should be hundreds or thousands of times higher then the actual damage, then why shouldn't we give them some incentive to be more realistic by taxing the income they 'earn' through these lawsuits?
    
    Maybe then the MPAA and others would realize just how absurd some of the anti-piracy laws and their penalties are.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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out_of_the_blue, 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:26pm

@ "Of course, even if IsoHunt did pay that kind of money, how much would go to artists?"
Even one cent would be MORE THAN ISOHUNT EVER PAID TO THEM!

How can you even write that, when you know perfectly well than IsoHunt TOTALLY GRIFTED, never paid a cent for the products it was effectively selling?
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- Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 12:31pm
  
  Re: @ "Of course, even if IsoHunt did pay that kind of money, how much would go to artists?"
  Hmm... I actually used ISOHunt a long time ago. Don't remember ever seeing a price associated with any .torrent file on the site.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 1:09pm
  
  Re: @ "Of course, even if IsoHunt did pay that kind of money, how much would go to artists?"
  I think the RIAA and MPAA is in the negative hundreds of millions paid to creators right now what with shady accounting practices and whatnot and them folding around every single lawsuit brought against them by creators.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:24pm
    
    Re: Re: @ "Of course, even if IsoHunt did pay that kind of money, how much would go to artists?"
    Remember, the actor who played Darth Vader never got a paycheck.
    
    Because Star Wars never made any money, you see. That's how Hollywood Accounting� works.
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    - Sheogorath (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 10:43pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: @ "Of course, even if IsoHunt did pay that kind of money, how much would go to artists?"
      Hollywood Accounting�: Stealing from creators so you don't have to!
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 1:46pm
  
  Re: @ "Of course, even if IsoHunt did pay that kind of money, how much would go to artists?"
  And none of that $110 million will ever reach the artists that the MPAA claim have been stolen from so the MPAA will be the ones grifiting off of the artists for not giving them any of that money and that will make them the pirates.
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- Nackers24, 20 Oct 2013 @ 1:33am
  
  Re: @
  They never sold shit you fucken moron. That's why they were closed down.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
bshock, 17 Oct 2013 @ 1:30pm

Enjoy your hydra hunt, MPAA
Cut off one Isohunt and two more will take its place.
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  bob, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:28pm
  
  Re: Enjoy your hydra hunt, MPAA
  Sure. You go on believing that. Why don't you set up one yourself and see how long you keep your house and your savings. This is a major victory for the forces of good.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:06pm
    
    Re: Re: Enjoy your hydra hunt, MPAA
    "This is a major victory for the forces of good."
    
    When Napster was shutdown did it deter piracy. NO
    When Limewire shutdown did it deter piracy. NO
    When Megaupload shutdown did it deter piracy. NO
    Now that IsoHunt is going to be shutdown will it deter piracy. NO
    
    All those shutdowns (even if the MPAA considers them to be a major win) hasn't detered piracy so piracy is still winning.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:46pm
    
    Re: Re: Enjoy your hydra hunt, MPAA
    What house?
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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bob, 17 Oct 2013 @ 1:42pm

Hooray!
It couldn't have happened to a sleezier bunch. And why don't you report that Slashdot says that IsoHunt has 5 or 6 million dollars sitting around. What? I thought the TechDirt fantasy was that it was just a bunch of anti-corporate hippies sitting around and sharing. Any fees were just to pay for "bandwidth." Nope. If they've got $5m+ now, who knows how much they collected over the years.

So get over your lies. Get over your horsemanure about it being about "sharing". Companies like this are just designed to take whatever they can while refusing to share any of the profits with the people who do the creating.

And they weren't just ripping off the artists, writers, and creators, they were ripping off suckers like you. They got that $5m+ from the pockets of the fools at web sites like this, the fools who believed their bogus claims. And you suckers paid it because you've been brainwashed by the horsemanure coming out of the piracy apologists.

I'm going to go have a nice glass of champagne-- a glass I bought and paid for with money I earned in legal trade. You guys can go suck some lemons.
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:27pm
  
  Re: Hooray!
  Why are you so upset?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- pityrules (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:47pm
  
  Re: Hooray!
  Those poor millionaire artists
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- silverscarcat (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:35pm
  
  Re: Hooray!
  Oh look, someone who doesn't understand how sharing works is saying something.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- btrussell (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 5:00pm
  
  Re: Hooray!
  "You guys can go suck some lemons."
  
  They won't let us make lemonade anymore, so we don't have much choice. You, on the other hand, would drink champagne even if prohibition was in effect.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
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  Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 6:56pm
  
  Re: Hooray!
  it's fun how posts that present real fact's get hidden, it's the TD equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "LALALALALALALALALALALALALA.... IM NOT HEARING THIS LALALALALALALALALA"
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  - Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 8:17pm
    
    Re: Re: Hooray!
    it's fun how posts that present real fact's get hidden, it's the TD equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "LALALALALALALALALALALALALA.... IM NOT HEARING THIS LALALALALALALALALA"
    "Fact": I do not think this word means what you think it means.
    
    A fact is something that is, without context. "I weight 180 lbs." is a fact. "I'm fat." is NOT a fact, it is an opinion. Saying "I weight 180 lbs., and am therefore fat" is still an opinion because it has a conclusion. Logical analysis can only be considered a fact when all possible variables are considered, which is why almost all logic outside of basic math is ultimately an opinion or hypothesis.
    
    Which is a fancy way of saying that not one of the posts here, including this one, is a fact. It's all opinion.
    
    For the rest I recommend researching what the word "fallacy" means. Learning is fun!
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    - Silverado, 19 Oct 2013 @ 9:21am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Hooray!
      Excuse me for raining on your parade, Mr. Scientist, but ...even though "learning is fun", IGNORANCE IS BLISS. :D
      
      Lemme learn you sumthin'. ;) There can be NO SUCH THING as "fact", if that were to be defined as "being without context". How do you suppose something (or anything) could "just be", if there were no context it were to "exist" inside?
      
      "I weight 180 lbs." is indeed NOT a "fact", but merely an OBSERVATION, ...made by a human being, at a specific geographical location on planet earth, using a scale defined by human beings, ...most of whom feel, btw., that it's a brilliant idea to support a belief-system in which universal "constants" actually should exist independently of context (an idealistic "idea" science has confounded decades ago).
      
      So there it is: Subtract the context from that (or any other) statement and what remains is nothing but NOISE (something that looks like "information", but has NO MEANING at all). :D
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      - Anonymous Coward, 22 Oct 2013 @ 8:43am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Hooray!
        entropy always increases :P
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gorehound (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 1:46pm

The slimeballs of the MAFIAA will never ever see a dime coming from my wallet.I never go to a theater, I never buy new physical bluray/dvd, I would never ever support those big music labels, and at this point in time I do not even care what they are putting out next.
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- Stephan K., 19 Oct 2013 @ 5:47am
  
  Re:
  You are exactly the kind of a-hole why they are going after these sites. If people actually bought the content they liked after viewing it illegaly we wouldn't have this problem. Do you also go into a store and just take what you want without paying? You really don't know how the world functions. If people don't pay, the movie companies can't produce new stuff.
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  - That One Guy (profile), 19 Oct 2013 @ 12:48pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Love how you assume that just because he says he refuses to support them by buying from them, it automatically follows that he must be pirating their stuff instead.
    
    In case you didn't know, some of us(myself included) get by just fine with what non-major label, non-big studio people/companies produce, and are more than willing to throw money at them, while at the same time avoiding like the plague anything the *AA's put out, due to their atrocious business practices and actions.
    
    If, should enough people do this, the current studios die off due to lack of funding(though given apparently none of their films ever make a profit, I'm surprised it hasn't happened already), so what, there will always be someone else willing to step in and take their place, and maybe the replacements will have a little more respect for their customers.
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pityrules (profile), 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:32pm

The reason Isohunt was so special for me is because it hosted one of the friendliest and most helpful communities I have encountered. The mods patiently answered questions and offered help on a range of issues from software to hardware. It was a true community.

And of course you can find practically any torrent out there very easily with their search engine.

Thanks for the good fight isohunt
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 2:34pm

Of course, it does nothing of the sort. If the shutting down of Napster, Grokster, Aimster and Limewire failed to make that point, why will IsoHunt's shutdown and unpayable fine make that point any stronger?

I'll bet your personal hero, Kim Dotcom could (and will) pay a pretty hefty sum. Why should the ability to pay rather than the damages affect the amount?
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:44pm
  
  Re:
  Fairness stupid, that is why.
  
  a) Damages can't be shown, the Motion Picture Ass. of America even says so themselves that they can't prove any damages or even if they happen, they just assume it does.
  
  b) Deterrence should be the least harsh possible, it should be harsh enough to cause pain, but not to harsh as to make others numb to it. If nobody can't pay or see a way out, why care?
  
  c) When people perceive their lifes as having nothing to lose they stop caring, banks took their homes, outsourcing took their jobs, many have in their minds nothing to lose at the moment, what a million dollars would cause to them? they can't afford it anyways and probably never will why bother caring, what else can you take from them?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 3:20pm

Not even a point decline in torrent downloads.

Sure the Motion Picture Ass. of America shown them pirates, how things are done.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 5:47pm

The Pirate Bay is still online.
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horse with no name, 17 Oct 2013 @ 7:11pm

bad defendant, bad rulings
IsoHunt is basically another case of a defendant who either got bad legal advice or worse, had a poor understanding of the law and the legal process and advised himself.

These are the sorts of people (along with class clowns like Tenenbaum) who end up setting the precedent type cases that are used to convict others. He has pretty much single handedly set all of the caselaw which makes it clear that it's all pretty much infringing and all pretty much subject to legal action. After IsoHunt, it's pretty much a fool's adventure to open a torrent site based in the US.

Kim DotFat must hate this guy too, because if Kim ends up in a US court, every one of the rulings in the ISO case will come back to haunt him.

This guy should have folded his tent years ago and avoided court. He hasn't helped anyone, not even himself.
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  Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 7:18pm
  
  Re: bad defendant, bad rulings
  what 'ruling' they settled !!!!!!
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 7:50pm
  
  Re: bad defendant, bad rulings
  Care to show the binding rulings in this case sir?
  Or are your words just horse shite?
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 7:17pm

People "Settle" for ONE REASON.. that is they believe it is a better "deal" than what they would expect from the Court ruling. You would NEVER settle for ANYTHING if you expect to win, or even if you expect a charge less than what you settled for.

SO them closing down and OFFERING that amount as a FINE (not a payment) then ISOHunt was fully aware they were screwed, they knew their legal arguments were are failure.

The chose to close down and accept a $110 mill fine.
Should they not be able to pay that fine, they should be able to do prison time instead.
That's what happens if you cant afford your large speeding fines, you can go to jail for a period.

Yet another massive blow to freetards the world over, and another nail in Masnick's 'legal opinions' reputation.

Mr Masnick are you one of the "hundreds of people" who will just start up another 'company/scam' like this ?

So would you be standing up setting up a ISOhunt ? Mr Masnick?
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- Anonymous Coward, 17 Oct 2013 @ 10:39pm
  
  Re:
  Winning a case isn't solely based on whether you're right or not. It's about how many lawyers you can pay for to defend your version of the truth. As someone who's so anti-corporatism, I'm surprised you don't already know that it's the fact that normal people can't afford good lawyers that leads to 'one law for me, another for thee'.
  
  Or are you suggesting that Phoenix Wright is a real person?
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me, 18 Oct 2013 @ 4:43am

m
chris dodd is everything wrong with being a lobbyist.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Oct 2013 @ 7:08am

In the future, the MAFIAA will sue hospitals. After all if they didn't deliver infringers then there would be no infringement.
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- That One Guy (profile), 18 Oct 2013 @ 7:12am
  
  Re:
  Well they've sued dead people, and it would make just as much sense(namely none) to sue people at the start of their lives as the end I suppose.
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Stephan K., 19 Oct 2013 @ 5:37am

Idiots
They don't realize what good potential those sites have. A lot of people who download movies wouldn't have paid to see them in the first place. So it's still a good way to get good buzz for your movie. And in other cases people just want to download the newest episode of their favorite TV Show before it's shown in their respective country and they are gonna buy the DVD Set anyway. Or they discover something good that they are then gonna buy. So all in all it ends up costing the MPAA money.. Well not really them but the studios. Ok.. I've made my point.
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- That One Guy (profile), 19 Oct 2013 @ 12:57pm
  
  Re: Idiots
  Agreed, but really, it's never been about profit, it's all about control.
  
  They could easily set up a service that would absolutely decimate piracy rates, by offering people the opportunity to pay say a reasonable rate to be able to watch/listen to any of the movies/songs they've made(not just the handful they are willing to license out), on any device, at any time, in any country(so none of that 'this song/movie is unavailable in your region' crap), with no DRM to get in the way.
  
  Sure you'd have people who would just pay for a month's worth, download a ton and then never pay again, but even then they'd have paid where otherwise they wouldn't have, and the amount of people who would be willing to jump ship from the hassle of pirating to a service like that would drop piracy rates like mad, as well as bringing in an absolute ton of new revenue and customers.
  
  However, the conditions listed above to make such a service work would take far too much control out of their hands(no 'windowed releases', no region-locked special releases, etc.), which is something they consider to be far more important to any amount of profit, despite how foolish such thinking is.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 19 Oct 2013 @ 9:45pm
    
    Re: Re: Idiots
    They could easily set up a service that would absolutely decimate piracy rates, by offering people the opportunity to pay say a reasonable rate to be able to watch/listen to any of the movies/songs they've made(not just the handful they are willing to license out), on any device, at any time, in any country(so none of that 'this song/movie is unavailable in your region' crap), with no DRM to get in the way.
    
    Funny, I don't hear a lot of people in the US crying about the lack of availability of foreign films. Maybe you people should consider developing a film/television industry that actually produces something your own countrymen want to watch. With the possible exception of England, the rest of the world is an utter flop when it comes to creating quality motion picture and television.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 19 Oct 2013 @ 10:25pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Idiots
      Good job, you managed to look like an egotistical dipwad without addressing a single point of his post. Mr. Dodd would be so proud.
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    - That One Guy (profile), 20 Oct 2013 @ 12:14am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Idiots
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baliwood
      
      Sorry, you were saying?
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    - PaulT (profile), 24 Oct 2013 @ 3:54am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Idiots
      "Funny, I don't hear a lot of people in the US crying about the lack of availability of foreign films."
      
      You move in the wrong circles - I hear it all the time. The bitching about the Weinsteins' treatment of the upcoming Korean movie Snowpiercer (which will be cut to ribbons for its US release but the original will not be officially available in the US), for the first high profile example that comes to mind.
      
      "the rest of the world is an utter flop when it comes to creating quality motion picture and television."
      
      Define "quality". Are you really claiming that Honey Boo Boo, Duck Dynasty and Grown Ups 2 are the pinnacle of media achievement?
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Dr. H. Sawyer, Jr., 19 Oct 2013 @ 11:56pm

Chris Dodd Who ??
Chris Dodd can suck my shorts. And he can suck
them as soon as immediately. Dodd is, and has
always been a cheap, disgusting little JERK.

If Chris Dodd has EVER done anything one-tenth
as complicated as ISOHUNT, somebody please tell me.

Dodd, you can go back to bed, now.
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SRG, 21 Oct 2013 @ 6:41pm

laughable
funny how the MPAA is going after so many "ENABLING" companies when they havent gone after sony, microsoft, or other big name companies that "ENABLE" the world to breach copyrights... Sony is still selling cd/dvd/blueray readers and burners that "ENABLES" people copy to and from cd/dvd/blueray, microsoft gives us windows which "ENABLES" us to interact and build programs that can breach copyright. every single company in this world breaches copyright on a day to day basis and nothing happens. well fuck the MPAA they steal from the artist back pocket more so then what any normal person can with downloading a song or movie....
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Fulgore, 22 Oct 2013 @ 1:15am

What's next?
What if you had...not simply a photographic memory, but a full-motion video memory? What if you could remember each scene in correct sequence, with score and dialogue?
You'd play it back inside your mind -- you'd re-live the work.

So what's the damned difference? It's only information -- transient, finite, fleeting and intangible. You derive no permanent benefit from it, it's less tangible than vapor.

Those bastards are selling us MEMORIES!
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Chantelle Tannous, 24 Oct 2013 @ 8:16pm

hello
Why did they shut down isohunt
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Nov 2013 @ 7:24pm

bob, horse with no name, out_of_the_blue, darryl and average_joe just hate it when due process is enforced. Enjoy your DMCA votes, you scummy little cocksuckers.
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