File sharing website isoHunt is shutting down as part of a piracy settlement with Hollywood studios. Executives filed the massive piracy lawsuit against the website seven years ago. The websites owner has agreed to pay $110 million for claims that it helped massively spread illegal copies of movies and TV shows.
A copy of the settlement was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday morning.
The $110 million judgement ends a seven-year legal battle between the Hollywood studios and isoHunt owner Gary Fung.
In March the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that “there is more than enough unrebutted evidence in the summary judgment record to prove Fung offered his services with the object of promoting their use to infringe copyrighted material.” The appellate court agreed and said that isoHunt was not protected by the “safe harbor” provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The appeals court said isoHunt had “red flag” knowledge of infringement and that they were profiting from it through advertising.
As part of the settlement Fung can longer “profit from the infringement of MPAA member studio content.”
Following the settlement MPAA chairman Chris Dodd said the huge monetary award “sends a strong message that those who build businesses around encouraging, enabling and helping others to commit copyright infringement are themselves infringers, and will be held accountable for their actions.”
In 2009 a federal court judge issued an injunction against isoHunt but the site didn’t shut down. Instead, Fung continued to operate his business through private servers located in Canada.
isoHunt shutting down was a simple decision after the court threatened the $110 million settlement along with $150,000 for each infringement. Based on the longevity of the sites existence, its owner would have been hit with billions of dollars in fines.
isoHunt will be shutting down by October 23, 2014.
Attorney’s for isoHunt are not commenting on the settlement at this time.
