Could ISOHUNT be the next to fall?

[melvbot]

One of the largest and most popular BitTorrent search sites, IsoHunt, has just had a court judgment against it, in favor of Columbia Pictures. You're probably wondering what the big deal is: IsoHunt deals with illegal movies... so it's just a matter of time before it gets shut down... right?

Well, kind of! A judge decided that IsoHunt 'induced theft' (i.e. copyright infringement), and thus it could be shut down without a trial. This is what's known as a 'summary judgment' in legal terms: when something is so obviously illegal (or legal) as to not require a trial, a summary judgment can be issued. In this case, the judge ruled that IsoHunt is similar enough to Napster and Grokster, and they were found illegal, and thus summarily issued a judgment -- just like that!

"The material facts supporting Plaintiffs' [the movie studio's] claims are almost wholly unrebutted," the judge said -- basically, either the IsoHunt lawyers are incompetent or... well... I don't know. Maybe... IsoHunt is actually guilty... gosh. What a horrible thought.

Of course an appeal can be launched -- and we assume, this time around, with a better legal strategy. In general though, few Torrent indexes or trackers return from the brink. If you use IsoHunt -- and I can't believe I'm saying this, because IsoHunt is awesome -- you should probably start looking for an alternative.

[Fondles]

without a doubt, isohunt is on the chopping block, which is good, keeps the attention away from rapidshare and newsgroups.

[slackula]

when something is so obviously illegal (or legal) as to not require a trial, a summary judgment can be issued.

Wow...

[thaibulge]

Strange but I don't actually use ISOHUnt.

[Marmite the Dog]

Why don't these sites just move their hosting to countries that think the US should go and fuck itself?

[lom]

^ They should all move their servers to Iran.

[Thungsongsausage]

So if ISOHUNT goes, what site do you recommend??

[melvbot]

Christ, there's hundreds of them BTjunkie, Demonoid just google for torrent site. ISOHUNT was/is a bit of a stalwart set up by a Canadian bloke and has been closed to return before. Not many live forever, they just like to make the stand.

Since being back in the UK I rarely download anything, might change now the wides here so she can watch some Thai stuff but in general I've gone from prolific to piss all. The softwarevi use I tend to buy now as it's from small developers who charge a fair price.
Movies/tv wise I'm buying a Eurovox box so I'm not giving up on blagging free content just yet.......

[Gerbil]

ISOHUNT is canadian owned and hosted in Canada.

I dont think they're going to listen to what a Judge in California has to say?

Or is Canada a new State of the US now?