This is essentially the plaintiffs' (Columbia Pictures' et. al.) memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Summary Judgement on Liability. Essentially it captures the main arguments of the plaintiffs in Columbia Pictures v. Gary Fung (IsoHunt), a recent development in the bittorrent context. Essentially the plaintiffs claim that the whole purpose of the "Fung websites" is to facilitate and provide users with the ability to search for ".torrent" files which link to trackers hosted on various computers and servers that contain actual content files like movies, etc. Also, plaintiffs maintain that "torrent" files in themselves have no purpose but to link to actual content files. The plaintiffs say that there had been done an "unrebutted" statistical study which showed that "95%" of all the torrents on the "other fung sites", which work hand-in-hand with the main IsoHunt site, are links to copyrighted material. Also important, is the plaintiffs counter to the defendant's (Gary Fung) claim that the Grokster case doesn't apply because unlike in the Groster case IsoHunt does not distribute any product. The plaintiffs' argument is that this claim is invalid because the Grokster case had nothing to do with it being a product as opposed to a service, but rather the fact that the Grokster "induced and promoted" active infringement which thus made Grokster liable for contributory infringement. 

This document is crucial to my research paper. It is the only recent legal document, and at the same time a primary source, directly related to my research thesis of whether government can/should shut down sites like www.IsoHunt.com. I plan to use virtually all of the arguments presented by the plaintiffs in my research paper. By weighing these arguments with various other sources (copyright law, DMCA, Grokster case, Fung's Affidavit) I'll be able to reach some kind of a conclusion in regards to my thesis.

This is a news article reporting on the recent developments in the campaign against copyright infringement. Specifically it reports on the recent development surrounding isoHunt. Essentially it makes it known that IsoHunt is using the claim that it's "only a search engine" as a defense against copyright infringement. It also makes reference to how the IsoHunt website functions as claimed by Gary Fung, the owner and developer of the website technology (see Affidavit no. 1). The article also exposes the MPAA's strategy in accusing IsoHunt and the like in copyright infringement. According to the artical the MPAA is heavily relying on the MGM v Grokster case. Lastly the artical also provides some significant issues raised by the on-going case. One is that it will probably be difficult for IsoHunt to prove to the judge that the IsoHunt website behaves like Google or Yahoo or any other search engine. It also raises an important point in regards that once settled this case could affect the fate of the whole internet structure specifically for search engines and the filesharing community.

The article is important for my research paper because it is the only article out of those that I looked at that covers the developments of the MPAA v. IsoHunt case in an unbiased way. Furthermore, since there is no official court transcript available as the case is still in progress any recent developments are important for my research paper. Further it provides one significant insight that IsoHunt does not behave in the same way as any other search engine in the sense that google and the like is data-agnostic but isoHunt links to specific type of content. I plan to quote this directly in my paper.

This is a legal document, specifically an affidavit, filed by Gary Fung, owner of the IsoHunt Website (www.isohunt.com), in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Canada, on September 5, 2008. After receiving a letter from the Canadian equivalent of RIAA, the CRIA, stating that the IsoHunt website is responsible for copyright infringement and furthermore that Gary Fung must take appropriate action to make sure that the site is deactivated, in other words a cease and desist request. In response Gary Fung filed this document for the purpose of having his rights clarified by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, which will in effect make it easier for Fung in later legal proceedings in regards to CRIA claims. In the document, Fung essentially reveals the nature and purpose of the IsoHunt Website. He explains why it exists, how it operates, and the content that it hosts. He makes it known that the site is essentially a search engine "similar to Google, Yahoo, Windows Live, etc." which exists for the purpose of making the search for dot-torrent files easier for users. He also explains that a user can essentially use Google and obtain similar results that can be obtained on the IsoHunt Website. Furthermore he makes it clear that no "content" is actually hosted by the website but just links to the torrent files are indexed. He also explains what are torrents and the BitTorrent p2p protocol that allow them to operate. He also makes it known that the Website is in no way affiliated with the BitTorrent protocol, the torrents, or the various software needed to download/create the said torrents.Lastly, Fung included eight supporting documents with his Affidavit one of which is a copy of the letter that he recieved from CRIA.

This source is important to my research project in many ways. First, it is a primary source from the owner of the IsoHunt website, the legality of which is in question by my research. Also it is a very recent source, which is very important in addressing the issue of copyright infringement by filesharing websites. It will be crucial in establishing the key differences and/or similarities between the technology this site uses and previous shut down sites such as Grokster and Napster. Further, the document also raises a complicating issue, that Google search engine technology functions in a similar fashion which implies that if one is not allowed to exist than how can the other be allowed to. The document also illustrates the DMCA Takedown provision in action, which in a way complicate my argument further, since Gary Fung does have all the necessary provisions of the DMCA addressed. Another reason why this is a valueable source for my research is that one of the attached documents is a copy of the letter from CRIA Fung recieved, which will be helpful since it exposes the vew shared by CRIA. Over all this is a valuable primary source that will prove to be valuable in my research.