File-sharing sites haven't had a great year, especially in court, but on Thursday they received a smidgen of good news.
The Motion Picture Association of America asked a federal court to rule that Isohunt was liable for copyright violations committed by its users, but the judge in the case said he was unconvinced. In his order, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson said the studios had yet to prove that the Isohunt's users had broken U.S. law.
Lawyers for the MPAA, the trade group for the six major Hollywood film studios, are trying to convince the judge that Isohunt encouraged and contributed to the infringing activity of users. Wilson gave the MPAA until Sept. 15 to file documents that prove direct infringement occurred in the U.S. Apparently, Wilson has some question whether U.S. residents have pirated content on Isohunt.
"United States copyright laws do not reach acts of infringement that take place entirely abroad," U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson, wrote in his order.
A spokeswoman for the MPAA did not immediately have a response.
The real significance of the judge's order, at least from the point of view of Ira Rothken, Isohunt's attorney, is that MPAA's investigators have struggled to draw specific examples of infringment occuring in the United States.
"Our view is that it would be difficult if not impossible," Rothken said, "to be able to trace any direct infringement to the users of the Isohunt's site in a manner in which holds Isohunt responsible for the infringing conduct. I think the judge's order will hopefully demonstrate to the court that Isohunt, besides lacking knowledge of direct infringement, can't possibly be held liable for users conduct especially since any such conduct occurs after they leave the site."
Rothken is hoping to take Isohunt's case before a jury, something that no other BitTorrent sites have managed to do.
The Pirate Bay was brought up on criminal misconduct. TorrentSpy was decided on a discovery sanction.
"I believe there has not been a single case in U.S. law where there has been a decision on the merits of a Torrent search engine," Rothken said. "We're cautiously optimistic Judge Wilson will deny plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and ultimately there will be a trial on the merits."
This article was first published as a blog post on CNET News
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