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California federal judge Florence-Marie Cooper has ordered TorrentSpy to pay some $110 million in damages for infringing the copyright of thousands of films and TV shows through its BitTorrent search engine.

This is a major win for Hollywood studios who are fighting torrents since long.
The Los Angeles judge, issued a permanent injunction against TorrentSpy, ordering it to pay $30,000 per copyright infringement–for 3,699 films and shows. That works out to be worth $110,970,000. It is not known as to how this amount will be paid.

TorrentSpy was once one of the most popular indexes of BitTorrent files before it shut down in March after a two-year copyright battle with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The company closed its site on March 24, citing financial hardship and a desire to protect the privacy of its users.

MPAA CEO Dan Glickman said:

The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios and demonstrates that such pirate sites will not be allowed to continue to operate without facing relentless litigation by copyright holders.

The decision to base the services unit in India was taken for greater proximity to customers in one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. A few NSN senior executives would also relocate to India and join the services unit headquarters.

The studios originally sued TorrentSpy in February 2006, alleging that the site promoted and contributed to online copyright infringement by helping people locate illegally copied films and television shows on the Internet. Last December, a federal judge sided with the MPAA by saying that TorrentSpy had destroyed evidence that would make a fair trial possible.

In its judgment the court said:

TorrentSpy operators had 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 company had previously been fined $30,000 for violations of discovery orders and were warned of severe sanctions if they continued to ignore the orders.

According to TorrentSpy’s attorney, Ira Rothken:

The ruling is draconian in nature and unfair. We do not believe any data was intentionally destroyed, and that some actions were taken to protect the privacy of TorrentSpy users. We would appeal any decision on damages.

Still, the permanent injunction prohibits Valence Media, operator of TorrentSpy, from engaging in any activity that “encourages, promotes or solicits, or knowingly facilitates, enables or assists, copyright infringement,” according to the court.