More file sharing news, albeit really from the movie industry domain. The Motion Picture Association Of America has been awarded a $110 million judgement against a company called Valence Media who operated the TorrentSpy website which helped web users to find illegal BitTorrent sources of content, in particular movies.
A default judgement was entered against Valence last year, and the site subsequently disappeared off the net. The US courts this week ruled on what damages the movie industry were due. One assumes Valence don't have $100 million and will go into liquidation, so it's something of a pyrrhic victory.
Still, for content owners it reaffirms that BitTorrent trackers - whether they be websites or message boards - [a] can be guilty of copyright infringement (most likely authorising infringement - though Valance were found guilty of several kinds) - even though they don't host any of the unlicensed content themselves, and [b] if they are, the damages can be cripplingly expensive.
MPAA boss Dan Glickman told reporters: "This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites. The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios, and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders".