Mininova Ordered By Court To Remove Copyright-Infringing Torrents
As a result of losing their case in a suit filed by BREIN (a Dutch anti-piracy organization) this past Spring, Mininova has been ordered by the courts to remove any and all copyright-infringing torrents from their tracker (which happens to be the largest torrent tracker on the web). Mininova is responsible for removing all infringing torrents within a time period of 3 months, or face fines of about $1,500 USD per torrent, with a maximum fine of $7.1 million USD.
Mininova’s defense was that it would be impossible to keep track and remove all infringing torrents, as there are simply too many on the tracker. Of course, the court disagreed with this — citing that Mininova has moderators on the site who frequently check torrents for validity and viruses based on user reports, and that they’re not doing enough to keep off copyright-infringing torrents from being uploaded.
Eric Dubbelboer, co-founder of Mininova said, “We are obviously not happy with the verdict,” shortly thereafter. An appeal to the verdict is still on the table for Mininova, in which they’d have to do so within three months.
[ Torrent Freak ]
