Hotfile settles with MPAA

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) settled its two-year lawsuit against Hotfile on Tuesday, according to reports.

The file-sharing site agreed to pay $80 million to the MPAA. Additionally, Hotfile must shut down unless it is able to implement copyright filtering technology.

The six-member film organization, which includes Twentieth Century Fox and Walt Disney Studios, sued Hotfile for copyright infringement of more than 3,500 works. Hotfile maintained its innocence under the safe harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

In August, a Florida judge pointed out that although Hotfile received eight million infringement notices for five million users, the site only closed 43 accounts, thereby encouraging infringements and piracy.

This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com