14 DAY TRIAL // The Motion Picture Association of America has submitted a new filing to a California federal court in which it explains that actual piracy damages can’t really be measured.
The trial date between the MPAA and isoHunt is getting closer and arguments between the two organizations are on the rise, TorrentFreak notes.
The two parties seem to disagree over whether isoHunt should be able to question the notion that piracy is actually hurting the movie industry.
isoHunt really wants to tell the court that the torrent site isn’t really hurting the movie industry all that much and has even enlisted the help of researcher and economics professor Koleman Strumpf who’s supposed to testify in accordance to a study he’s done. Of course, over the past several months alone there have been several studies indicating that the entertainment industry is actually thriving, aside from his.
The MPAA, however, wants to shut down isoHunt and have it pay damages, but somehow doesn’t want to have the argument in court about whether torrent sites damage the business or not.
“To permit consideration of actual damages under these circumstances would be perverse – and particularly unfair – given that Plaintiffs elected statutory damages precisely because their actual damages are not capable of meaningful measurement,” the MPAA’s legal team wrote.
isoHunt argues that actual damages are important information that should be given to the juries if they are to make a fair judgment.
The MPAA is asking for nearly $600 million (€442 million) in damages, although they admitted several millions would be enough to put isoHunt out of business, something that’s been pointed out even by the judge. Their argument, however, is that such a fine would deter other torrent sites, effectively admitting they’re trying to make an example out of isoHunt.