DSLReports is covering a story where lawyers representing DreamWorks sent a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice to "ThePirateBay." ThePirateBay is a large BitTorrent tracker located in Sweden. For those unfamiliar with BitTorrent terminology, a tracker is a central server that manages the transmission of a particular file(s) among peers.

Those living in the United States, especially those who are involved with P2P, have become acutely familiar with the DMCA. Last year, Slyck.com was sent a DMCA notice from Sharman Networks for providing links to Kazaa Lite. The RIAA has also used the act as an enforcement device against P2P. It is a tool used commonly by copyright owners when they feel their Intellectual Property has been in some way compromised.

Those running BitTorrent trackers have also felt the pinch, especially from larger studios such as DreamWorks Entertainment. Specifically, lawyers representing DreamWorks sent a DMCA notice to the BitTorrent tracker "ThePirateBay", requesting their "assistance in the removal of infringements of the "Shrek 2" motion picture from this web site and any other sites for which you act as an Internet Service Provider."

It is important to note that BitTorrent trackers do not store any copyrighted material on their servers. Rather, they simply provide a conduit for all other peers to distribute a particular file. Realizing this, administrators for ThePirateNet responded with the following:

"As you may or may not be aware, Sweden is not a state in the United States of America. Sweden is a country in northern Europe. Unless you figured it out by now, US law does not apply here. For your information, no Swedish law is being violated.

Please be assured that any further contact with us, regardless of medium, will result in

a) a suit being filed for harassment
b) a formal complaint lodged with the bar of your legal counsel, for
sending frivolous legal threats."

Of course, this is only about half of the response sent to DreamWorks. According to their response, ThePirateBay has no intention of complying any time in the near future. Please check out the full, colorful response here.

This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
Legal/Courtroom :: Other Lawsuits
BitTorrent :: Trackers/Indexers

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