by Search Copywriter
D. Warburton
D. Warburton
File sharing website Mininova has removed all links to illegal torrent downloads, to comply with a court order.According to the BBC, the Netherlands-based company was issued with a court order three months ago, demanding that its website remove all links to copyright-protected material. The Mininova site now only hosts links to 'featured content,' which consists solely of licensed files that are legal to download.
Mininova staff published a blog post expressing that they were not satisfied with the outcome of the trial, but that the ruling left them with "no other option than to take our platform offline, except for the content distribution service." They are also reportedly considering appealing against the court order.
Director of Netherlands anti-piracy group Brien, Tim Kuik, was naturally delighted with the ruling. He explained: "We applaud the fact that Mininova now uses the BitTorrent technology for legal business.
"We are not against the technology but only against the use of that technology for illegal purposes."
The Mininova court order is only the latest chapter in the ongoing saga over the future of online file sharing, as copyright holders and file sharing sites are locked in a struggle with no clear outcome in sight.
Even with the owners of The Pirate Bay - one of the world's largest file sharing websites - being found guilty of assisting the distribution of illegal content online, the site continues to operate under the ownership of Seychelles-based firm Riversella, while the other major player isoHunt is still also open for business.
