Los Angeles - TorrentSpy, the BitTorrent tracker that was ordered by a federal judge this week to pay the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) $111 million in copyright infringement damages, has filed for bankruptcy protection in England and will not pay up, the company's attorney, Ira Rothken, told Wired.com.

Valence Media, the parent company of TorrentSpy, "has no appreciable assets," Rothken told Wired.com.

"This was a Hollywood publicity stunt," he added, referring to the large damages award to the movie studios.

"We will pursue enforcement of the judgment," MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman told Wired.com.

Rothken is appealing the penalty to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and has already appealed the default judgment entered last year against TorrentSpy -- which he points out was not decided based on the merits of whether or not TorrentSpy infringed any copyrights.

The MPAA's lawsuit against another BitTorrent tracker site, Isohunt, is currently pending before the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Related Links:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/05/torrentspy-wont.html

http://snipurl.com/283xa (DMW previous coverage)

http://www.torrentspy.com