Hotfile To Pay $80 Million In Copyright Suit

Only a week prior to the schedule court date between MPAA and the popular filesharing website, Hotfile both parties have agreed to an $80 million settlement. The lawsuit was originally set in motion by industry leader MPAA due to Hotfile violating multiple copyrights.

Hotfile was given the option to remain open if  it began to use filtering technology to prevent copyright infringement, however the website decided to permanently close its doors. The following message now appears on the former site’s homepage.

“If you are looking for your favorite movies or TV shows online, there are more way than ever today to get high quality access to them on legal platforms.”

The MPAA views the closure of Hotfile as a major victory and expects this to allow additional creative industries to seriously pursue the closure of other infringing cyberlockers.

“Sites like Hotfile that illegally profit off of the creativity and hard work of others do a serious disservice to audiences, who deserve high-quality, legitimate viewing experiences online,” said MPAA chairman and chief executive Chris Dodd.

Hotfile was one of the largest cyberlockers with home to more than 5.3 million registered users. Documents involved in the lawsuit stated the company had 123 million files stored on its servers and generated more than 2.9 billion total downloads.

Visit our Piracy Statistics page to learn more about the infringing cyberlockers we come across most often.