MPA Gives Pirate Sites 24 Hours To Shut Down

From the “Best of luck!” file comes a tale of the international representative of motion pictures telling ‘pirate’ sites to shut down within a limited time frame – or else.

The folks at TorrentFreak caught wind of this after a bunch of different websites received the threat letter. It’s not only sites that host torrent files that have been targeted, but also sites that link to such sites. And if the demand to stop serving movies isn’t a big enough reason for the letter to be sent, it’s even mentioned that the mere artwork that these sites pair with the content is also breaching copyright.

This Notice requires you to immediately (within 24 hours) take effective measures to end and prevent further copyright infringement. All opportunities provided by the Website to download, stream or otherwise obtain access to the Entertainment Content should be disabled permanently.

The letter finishes:

We look forward to your response. If you fail to take the immediately required action ato end and prevent further copyright infringements, the MPA and the MPA Members expressly reserve the right to pursue all remedies available.

Thus far, it seems like only one site caved to the pressure, although it was merely a linking site. It’s unclear how many others will buckle to this pressure, but depending on how many letters were sent out, it seems possible that some might. This letter could be taken as a “last chance” kind of deal, where if someone shuts down their site, they’ll avoid legal action, whereas if they stick around, they’ll effectively be stoking the fire.

This could be a fun one to watch.