Torrentfreak: “Torrent Admins Get Probation But Face Millions in Damages” plus 1 more

Torrent Admins Get Probation But Face Millions in Damages

Posted: 17 Jan 2015 01:52 AM PST

Five years ago, pressure was building against Swedish private torrent tracker 'eXcelleNT'. The site, known to its users as XNT, had been on the radar of local anti-piracy outfits for some time, but had chosen not to shut down.

Behind the scenes, Swedish anti-piracy group Rights Alliance (then Antipiratbyrån) was closing in and early 2011 the group filed an official police complaint.

In May that year authorities pounced, arresting a man in Borlänge, Sweden, and another in the Stockholm area a day later. The site's server was seized in Germany.

What followed was a wait of more than three years as the authorities prepared their case and in December the men went on trial. The pair were accused of making available more than 1,000 different movies and TV shows without permission from rightsholders including Warner Bros. and Disney.

Yesterday the verdict was handed down by the Falu District Court and it’s mixed news for the pair.

Although 1,050 titles were referenced in the case (an unusually large amount), the court only found the men guilty of copyright infringement in 28 cases. In the remaining 1,022 cases there was no proof that infringement had been committed.

This meant that rather than the hefty jail sentences demanded by the prosecutor, the 24 and 25-year-olds received probation and were ordered to complete 120 hours of community service instead.

Speaking with DN.se, prosecutor Frederick Ingblad, the man also running the case against The Pirate Bay, says he has not decided if he will appeal the decison.

“I think the sentence was low, but it’s good that they still got community service and not just probation,” Ingblad said.

But while probation is probably a relief to the men, another significant challenge lies ahead.

The judgment reveals that film company Nordisk Film has also filed a claim for damages amounting to some 18 million kronor ($2.2 million). This will be dealt with through a separate legal process handled by Rights Alliance.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and anonymous VPN services.

95% Of Oscar Contenders Leaked on Pirate Sites Already

Posted: 16 Jan 2015 09:21 AM PST

The Oscars is the biggest award show of the year and is closely followed by hundreds of millions of movie fans.

This week the new nominees were announced and as usual that triggered a spike in sales, theater visits and illegal downloads.

The interest of torrent users for Best Picture nominee “The Theory of Everything” quadrupled almost instantly, and several other titles saw similar spikes.

With help from Andy Baio, who has been collecting detailed piracy stats for the Oscar-nominees since 2003, we can also reveal how many of the films are already available along with some other interesting trends.

What stands out immediately is how widely available the films are. Of all 2015 nominees, except documentary and foreign films, 34 of the 36 films (95%) are present on pirate sites.

Only the animated feature film “Song of The Sea” and best original song nominee “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me” have yet to appear online.

The films that are available don’t all come in perfect quality of course. “Beyond the Lights,” for example, only leaked in a CAM (camcorded) version. Most, however, are available in relatively decent screener, DVDRip or comparable quality.

Ironically enough, nearly all of the pirated screener copies appear to have been leaked from Academy sources.

The data further shows that it takes an average of 25 days until first leak appears online. In 2015 retail DVDs leaked faster than in previous years, in part due to shorter release windows.

“Two Days One Night” leaked the earliest, with a DVD quality copy of the movie becoming available more than two months before its official U.S. release date. “The Grand Budapest Hotel” took the longest with a total of 88 days.

While relatively unknown films see a serious spike in downloads after the nominations, most interest goes out to the traditional blockbusters. Of all nominees The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies remains the most popular with more than two million downloads over the past week.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and anonymous VPN services.