Hotfile Settles With MPAA, Drops Countersuit Against Warner Bros

After winning the right to use the term perjury in regards to Warner Bros abuse of the DMCA takedown procedure, and successfully blocking the MPAA from using the term "piracy" at their trial, Hotfile settled out of court with the MPAA today (mere days before the trial was scheduled to begin). As part of the deal, they are dropping their countersuit against Warner Bros, paying $80 million, and halting all operations immediately. The Hotfile website has been replaced by an MPAA message. From Torrent Freak: "The settlement deal was rubber stamped by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, ... The MPAA is happy with the outcome which it says will help to protect the rights of copyright holders on the Internet. 'This judgment by the court is another important step toward protecting an Internet that works for everyone,' MPAA boss Chris Dodd says."

Comments

Perjury! Piracy! What?

[jeffb (2.718)]

So, after winning the right to use an incendiary term in trial, and blocking their opponents from using another incendiary term, Hotfile... rolled over?

Re:Perjury! Piracy! What?

[Travis Mansbridge]

They may have just been flexing their legal muscle to achieve a better bargaining position, allowing them to settle for less than they would have had to pay.

Re:Perjury! Piracy! What?

[Bacon Bits]

This is a civil trial. Perjury is a criminal offense, and prosecution must be brought by the state.

"Everyone"

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

Of course, by "everyone" he means the only people that count... rich people.

Re:"Everyone"

[rnturn]

Yep... Dodd also has a different definition of "works" than a lot of people would find to be appropriate. His definition appears to refer to "a mechanism that closes off content until rich folks' palms are greased with enough silver". When he says "works" he's not saying that it does anything for content creators after their initial legal contact with publishers.

surprising

[Trepidity]

The most surprising thing to me here is that Hotfile was profitable enough to have $80 million.

Re:surprising

[paiute]

Considering that no movie ever has yet made a profit, yeah.

Stupid MPAA landing page

[Anonymous Coward]

Quoting from the MPAA message now on hotfile.com:
"If you are looking for your favorite movies or TV shows online, there are more ways than ever today to get high quality access to them on legal platforms."

How about a list of those numerous platforms? How about a link to an MPAA sponsored page of links to these various legal platforms?

Yes, they are out there, but why the hell wouldn't they promote them?

Re:Stupid MPAA landing page

[Anonymous Coward]

Moreover, how about list such platforms usable in places other the US.

Re:Stupid MPAA landing page

[noldrin]

Unfortunately there is a ton of content locked up copyright holders with no legal way to view or access it, whether for entertainment or study. Much of it is decades old and some of it is culturally significant.

Re:Stupid MPAA landing page

[decipher_saint]

This answer is not available in your Region

Whoah there!

[pla]

"Perjury" doesn't mean they called Hotfile's CEO mean things and ate the last cupcake. It means Warner Brothers committed a fucking crime. Hotfile can settle all it wants, that doesn't make WB's actions any less of a crime.

So, anyone taking bets on the temperature of Hell when we see formal charges filed here?

Re:Whoah there!

[Jason Levine]

Perjury isn't a crime if a big corporation does it. Just like if you infringe copyright then you're an evil, artist killing individual. If a corporation steals your copyrighted image/photo/etc and uses it for their own purposes, at most they just need to say "oops" and toss some token payment your way. Corporations are people and all people are created equal, but some people are more equal than others.

Re:Whoah there!

[Anonymous Coward]

I've had people commit perjury against me in court. Judge didn't do shit. I was able to prove that they had forged a "sworn testimony" against me from a 3rd party by showing that the dates that it was dated outside the scope of when that 3rd party would have had any dealings or knowledge about the case. All the judge did was dismiss that single piece of evidence. You can get away with perjury all you want because judges don't care (they're used to being lied to) and juries will almost NEVER convict someone of perjury -- so good luck getting a DA to prosecute. There is no real defense for an honest man in court against a dishonest man.

Jurisdiction

[Adrian Lopez]

How does a US federal court gain jurisdiction over a company located in Panama?

A ruling prior to this settlement held that Hotfile could be subject to vicarious liability for failing to comply with the DMCA (they allegedly ignored a bunch of DMCA takedown requests and failed to shut down a bunch of accounts despite repeat infringements), but the DMCA is US law, not Panama law. Unless copyright is somehow a special case (due to, say, international agreements), I fail to see why Hotfile should be subject to US copyright law anymore than US companies should be subject to Chinese or Iranian censorship laws.

What gives?

MPAA message wrong (surprise)

[Anonymous Coward]

The MPAA message says that a federal court found Hotfile liable. The court didn't find anything because the parties settled before trial began. It seems a little disingenuous, but perfectly within the normal bounds of the MPAA playbook, to blatantly lie like that.