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 The Hotfile website has been replaced by an MPAA message.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."

Re:Perjury! Piracy! What?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perjury is a legal term. Piracy is an analogy.

"Everyone"

[Conspiracy_Of_Doves]

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

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.

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?

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:Stupid MPAA landing page

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:term

[Anonymous Coward]

Make it zero years, and do the same with patents. You can have your government-imposed monopolies in hell. Copyright (and patents) are anti-free market, anti-private property, and copyright often utilizes censorship to try to stop websites from hosting copyrighted materials. Truly a disgusting concept.

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:Jurisdiction

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, US is the new China.