The court found that the site deleted or renamed certain threads and categories that infringed on copyrights as well as deleted the IP addresses of its users.
A $30,000 USD fine had already been levied against the site for violations of discovery orders.
Both the MPAA and the courts believed that without the evidence in question, a fair trial could not occur. The judge went on to call TorrentSpy's conduct during the discovery as "poor" as it willfully destroyed evidence and lied under oath.
The MPAA, of course, applauded the decision. "The court's decision is a significant victory for MPAA member companies and sends a potent message to future defendants that this egregious behavior will not be tolerated by the judicial system," piracy chief John Malcolm said.
"The court clearly recognized that defendants engaged in evidence destruction because they knew that such evidence would prove damaging to them."
TorrentSpy is seeking an appeal.
Source:
betanews
Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 20 Dec 2007 18:08
