Final month, Russian stream ripper FLVTO.biz filed an attraction of the $83 million verdict in opposition to it. A month later and the struggle is over as funds run dry.
The RIAA obtained a default judgment of their favor in opposition to FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com and its Russian operator greater than two years in the past. A discover of attraction was filed in March 2022, however the case remained silent till this yr. Then a submitting in July 2023 revealed the Russian proprietor was ready to struggle again, requesting an attraction of the unique judgment.
On the time, lawyer Val Guvits advised TorrentFreak that his consumer deliberate to problem how the location could possibly be held responsible for copyright infringement. On the time of the $83 million verdict, FLVTO.biz was attracting 94 million visits a month, with 12% of that visitors originating from the USA. Since then, visitors has fallen to only three million visits monthly.
“It’s disappointing that an individual who has by no means as soon as set foot in the USA and who has solely operated an internet site accessible anyplace n the world might be ordered to look in a court docket midway all over the world,” Gurvits advised TorrentFreak about his consumer’s voluntary dismissal of his attraction.
“And if he fails to take action—or just can’t afford to take action—then he might be hit with thousands and thousands of {dollars} of damages even when there was no proof that the plaintiffs truly suffered any damages on account of his conduct.”
With the attraction withdrawn, the $83 million default judgment in favor of the RIAA stands. It’s unlikely that the regulatory physique will recuperate a lot. The court docket order additionally requires FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com to close down indefinitely—however as of the time of writing, each websites are nonetheless accessible. Accessing both web site from the USA leads to a message studying, “This service is completely unavailable in the USA.”