KickassTorrents Lawyer: 'Torrent Sites Do Not Violate Criminal Copyright Laws' (arstechnica.co.uk)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Lawyers representing Artem Vaulin have filed their formal legal response to prosecutors' allegations of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, among other charges. Vaulin is the alleged head of KickassTorrents (KAT). KAT was the world's largest BitTorrent distribution site before it was shuttered by authorities earlier this year. Vaulin was arrested in Poland, where he now awaits extradition to the United States. "Vaulin is charged with running today's most visited illegal file-sharing website, responsible for unlawfully distributing well over $1 billion of copyrighted materials," Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell said in a July 2016 statement. The defense's new 22-page court filing largely relies on the argument that there is no such thing as secondary criminal copyright infringement. While secondary copyright infringement as a matter of civil liability was upheld by the Supreme Court in MGM v. Grokster in 2005, Vaulin and his associates have been charged criminally. "The fundamental flaw in the government's untenable theory of prosecution is that there is no copyright protection for such torrent file instructions and addresses," [the brief's author, Ira Rothken,] argued in his Monday motion to dismiss the charges against Vaulin. "Therefore, given the lack of direct willful copyright infringement, torrent sites do not violate criminal copyright laws." "The extradition procedures have formally been started by the US in Poland," Rothken told Ars. "We are in a submissions or briefing period, and our Polish team is opposing extradition." Rothken also said that he has yet to be allowed to meet or speak directly with his client. For now, Rothken has been required to communicate via his Polish counterpart, Alek Kowzan. "Maybe they are afraid that Artem's extradition defense will be enhanced if American lawyers can assist in defending against the US extradition," Rothken added. No hearings before US District Judge John Z. Lee have been set.
What's really important is that the judges agree.
I don't get how everybody on this planet an his dog can be extradited to the fucking USA at their whims. The guy isn't even a US citizen...
Of Course he does.
According to the copyright mafia, if you make it easy to violate their copyright then it's your fault.
Although I personally don't think the "crime" of money laundering should even exist, it does exist and it is a criminal matter. Even if secondary copyright infringement is a purely civil and not a criminal matter, he is also charged with money laundering and could be extradited on those grounds.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
The govt does what the defense/industrial/entertainment complex tells them to. If Obozo and his "posse" of thug posers (and Comey, the goofy white guy they make fun of) doesn't, then they'll lose all the goodies they've gotten from them.
It's just metadata, what's the big deal?
Everyone seems to miss this tiny detail. He had a server running in CHICAGO. Plus they tied the site to his personal email address. So he wasn't even trying to be discrete.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Wow he had a server in America! what is your retarded point?
i guess they will get them the same way as they got TPB in sweden. wich basicly said the same thing as the lawyer "Torrent Sites Do Not Violate Criminal Copyright Laws' . However they are accomplices to the ones that do the infrigment, wich is harder to argue against.
I've never understood why KAT, TPB et al are considered to be the very epitome of modern day evil, yet eBay can carry on selling fakes and bootlegs by the tens of thousands apparently unmolested by the US authorities?
I am Kickasstorrents
How many counterfeit and copyrighted items do the USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc transport on a daily basis? Following the logic applied to torrent sites, these businesses need to receive cease and desist orders as well and have their CEOs / Postmaster General dragged into federal courts for actively aiding copyright infringement. The claims are totally ludicrous.
Internet piracy is a job,not a geek
eBay's "committment" against forgery is complete and utter bullshit. I bought a DVD series from a seller overseas (it was not a domestic series) who had lots of listing proudly proclaiming he doesn't sell bootlegs. DVD's arrive, and the first few episodes have the same shitty fan-subs that would see with crap downloaded online. Some episodes even have the f***ing scan-lines where they were recorded to DVD from an analogue source. The only thing that looked remotely legit about them was the silkscreening and some box art.
eBay's response: You need to get a professional in the industry to provide a written attestation that the goods are counterfeit, within the next 30 days.
Within the podunk town I was living at the time that was pretty much impossible, and thus the seller got to keep my money for what was essentially fancy cardboard and crappy burned downloads.
KAT was the world's largest BitTorrent distribution site
KAT didn't distribute anything.