KickassTorrents Defense: KickassTorrent Is A Search Engine Just Like Google
Well, KickassTorrents was one of the top torrent websites out there on the internet until it went down the previous year when the owner of KickassTorrents website, Artem Vaulin, was arrested in a joint operation by the US authorities with the Polish police. He was accused of various crimes like copyright infringement and money laundering. However, according to TorrentFreak, the alleged owner Artem Vaulin asked the US Department of Justice to set him free because there was no proof of actual wrongful copyright infringement. The US prosecutor didn’t agree and said that the site was a shelter for piracy and made millions yearly. Lawyer of Artem Vaulin, Ira Rothken, had pointed out the flaw in the case and said that torrent files are not copyrighted content, and the secondary copyright infringement claims would fail as they are non-existent under criminal law. Ira Rothken told Torrent Freak, “We believe the indictment against Artem Vaulin in the KAT torrent files case is defective and should be dismissed. Torrent files are not content files. The reproduction and distribution of torrent files are not a crime.” What the defense lawyer wants to say is if any visitor downloads a torrent file, the infringement happens after they leave the site behind. Therefore, Artem Vaulin can’t be taken responsibly. Ira Rothken even said that KickassTorrent is just like a search engine, and you wouldn’t sue Google for something its users decide to do. At this point, the prosecutor argues that Google is not dedicated to uploading and distributing of copyrighted works. As reported by Torrent Freak, the Prosecution thinks “KickassTorrents operated as a piracy flea market, with advertising revenue of about $12.5 million to $22.3 million. Comparing it with Google is nonsense, Su argued.” Artem Vaulin is under custody in Poland, where he was denied bail. Artem Vaulin was admitted to the hospital a few weeks ago due to a serious health problem. It remains to be seen from District Court to decide how to move forward. So, what do you think about this? Share your views in the comment box below.
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