Judge rules for MPAA in TorrentSpy case

A judge ruled against the BitTorrent site in its case against the MPAA this week, accusing it of tampering with evidence.

The court found that TorrentSpy deleted or renamed threads and categories that infringed on copyrights, and deleted the IP addresses of its users. While termination is a rarely used sanction, the court said TorrentSpy's actions were "sufficiently extraordinary" to warrant it.

A fine of $30,000 had previously been levied against the site for violations of discovery orders.

Without this evidence, the court believed a fair trial could not occur. Essentially, that ruling echoed the complaints of the MPAA, who claimed without this data it would be much more difficult for them to argue their side of the story.

TorrentSpy's conduct during the discovery phase was said to be so poor that it had engaged in willful efforts to destroy evidence, and provided false testimony under oath as well.

Of course, TorrentSpy and its lawyers disagreed with the court. Its lawyers called the ruling "draconian and unfair," and its founder said he will pursue an appeal, and believes the site has sufficient grounds to do so.

The MPAA applauded the decision. ""The court's decision is a significant victory for MPAA member companies and sends a potent message to future defendants that this egregious behavior will not be tolerated by the judicial system," piracy chief John Malcolm said.

"The court clearly recognized that defendants engaged in evidence destruction because they knew that such evidence would prove damaging to them."