The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has claimed responsibility for the recent shutdown of the main Popcorn Time fork, PopcornTime.io, and torrent site YTS.
If you recall, PopcornTime.io shut down late last month due to what was widely reported as internal conflicts between core developers, fear that an upcoming paid service could land them in legal trouble and various hosting issues.
The MPAA, however, has now come forward with news that several of its member studios filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court of Canada on October 9. A week later, they obtained an injunction to shut the service down. As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the statement of claim was under seal until today.
MPAA chairman and CEO Chris Dodd said Popcorn Time and YTS are illegal platforms that exist for one clear reason: to distribute stolen copies of the latest motion picture and television shows without compensating the people who worked so hard to make them.
By shutting down these illegal commercial enterprises, which operate on a massive global scale, Dodd said they are protecting not only their members' creative work and the hundreds of innovative, legal digital distribution platforms, but also the millions of people whose jobs depend on a vibrant motion picture and television industry.
The MPAA further revealed that a lawsuit was filed on October 12 in the High Court of New Zealand against the operator of popular torrent site YTS. An injunction was also granted in that case, the MPAA said. YTS went offline two weeks ago.