isoHunt – a massively popular bit torrent sharing site will be shut down as part of a settlement following a piracy suit launched by a number of major Hollywood studios.  The settlement also includes an agreement to pay $110 million pursuant to claims that the site encouraged pirating of television shows and movies.  It was an interesting case that played out over several years.  The case launched heavily against site founder Gary Fung, isoHunt, and three related sites, which are also part of the shut down that are to be completed by October 23, 2014.  The settlement came just before a planned hearing on the matter and U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian canceled the hearing on news that a settlement was reached.

The case took a number of twists and turns, but mostly time and at one point, Fung had taken the defense that he was protected by safe harbor policy under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, DMCA.  The policy is one that limits how much liability actually falls on various internet services when activity passes through their networks.  The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that notion back in March of this year, finding there was plenty of evidence that the goal of Fung’s services were designed to promote infringing on copyrighted material.   Also the court stated that the DMCA safe harbor provision did not apply in this case as there was knowledge of infringement and there was profit made through advertising in the matter.

The Chairman of the MPAA released the following statement saying the settlement:

“sends a strong message that those who build businesses around encouraging, enabling and helping others to commit copyright infringement are themselves infringers, and will be held accountable for their actions.”

Fung bid farewell to his community in a message put up on his site:

It’s sad to see my baby go. But I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. 10.5 years of isoHunt has been a long journey by any business definition, and forever in Internet startup time. It started as a programming hobby in my university days that has become so, so much more. It’s been a learning experience beyond what I imagined. I’ve done the best I could pushing the social benefits of BitTorrent and file sharing, the searching and sharing of culture itself, but it’s time for me to move on to new software ideas and projects.

isoHunt was one of the giants, it persisted through years of challenges as one of the most prominent bit torrent file sharing sites.  After years of effort, software companies, Hollywood studios, the MPAA, the RIAA and recording studios have increasingly succeeded in efforts to track and shutdown popular file sharing sites in their favor.