Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/11/26/mininova/

'World's largest' BitTorrent tracker Mininova kneecapped

Probably not so popular without copyright torrents

By Christopher Williams

Posted in Legal, 26th November 2009 16:57 GMT

Popular BitTorrent site Mininova has been forced to delist virtually all its trackers, after a legal defeat by a Dutch rights holder organisation.

The move may signal the end for what billed itself as the world's largest BitTorrent site.

Mininova was sued by BREIN, a coalition of Dutch publishing, music film and software lobbies. In August the court ruled it must remove links copyright material or face a €5m fine.

Today it complied with the order. Torrents uploaded by copyright owners to Mininova's distribution network remain, but the vast majority were tracking illegally shared material.

According to Torrentfreak, the site generated millions of dollars for its owners. They are reportedly considering an appeal.

BREIN's victory is the latest in an international campaign against copyright-infringing BitTorrent trackers, spearheaded by the record industry. ®