TorrentSpy lost this round.
From CNET:
TorrentSpy may be its own worst enemy.
A federal judge has ruled against the BitTorrent indexing service TorrentSpy.com saying that its hiding and destruction of evidence made a fair trial impossible.
A Los Angeles court agreed with the Motion Picture Association of America’s attorneys that the extraordinarily harsh sanction of terminating the case was necessary because TorrentSpy operators’ actions impacted the ability for the movie studios to prove its case.
“The court finds that plaintiffs have suffered prejudice, to the extent that a rightful decision is not possible,” the ruling said.
“Defendants’ conduct during discovery in this case has been obstreperous,” the court concluded. “They have engaged in widespread and systematic efforts to destroy evidence and have provided false testimony under oath in an effort to hide evidence of such destruction.”
TorrentSpy operators intentionally modified or deleted directory headings naming copyrighted titles and forum posts that explained how to find specific copyrighted works; concealed IP addresses of users; and withheld the names and addresses of forum moderators, the court found. They had earlier been fined $30,000 for violations of discovery orders and were warned of severe sanctions if they continued to ignore the orders.
Article Link (CNET)
Article Link (TorrentFreak)
[tags]TorrentSpy, BitTorrent, MPAA, Evidence Tampering[/tags]
