MPAA holds on to case against Hotfile

MOVIE INDUSTRY CARTEL, the MPAA has a fight on its hands in its attempts to shut down the cyber locker web site Hotfile.

At the end of last week a judge in Florida dismissed claims that the web site infringed copyrights, probably because it did not, and now the music cartel must carry on and try to convince others that it is, or at the very least that the people that run it are.

The judge does not sound like a fan of the digital locker provider, and although the web site cannot be held responsible for any hosted content it is possible that its operators could be.

"To be sure, (Hotfile founder Anton) Titov and Hotfile allegedly encourage the massive infringement," said Florida federal court judge Adalberto Jordan in his decision.

"Yet nothing in the complaint alleges that Hotfile or Mr. Titov took direct, volitional steps to violate the plaintiffs' [copyrights]. There are no allegations, say, that Hotfile uploaded copyrighted material. Therefore, under the great weight of authority, the plaintiffs have failed to allege direct copyright infringement."

The MPAA is after quite a lot of the Hotfile pie, right down to its source code, and the target has called its actions so far, "Murder by litigation", and the judge did give it the green light to carry on with its slim case.

"The complaint alleges that hotfile.com is a Web site that Hotfile uses to promote copyright infringement and alleges that Hotfile took affirmative steps to foster this infringement by creating a structured business model that encourages users to commit copyright infringement," he added. "At this stage, that suffices to plead a claim for inducing copyright infringement." µ