Illegal download site ordered to pay $650 mn to movie studios

A French court has ordered the administrators of a site for illegal downloading of movies to pay more than 625 million euros ($650 million) in fines and damages and interest to film studios, including major US studios, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Six administrators and moderators of the site Torrent 411 were tried between October 11 and 13 in Rennes and the site's Canadian founder was tried in absentia.

Major American studios such as Disney, 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Universal, Paramount and Warner Brothers were all awarded damages and interest.

Torrent 411 held more than 700,000 links for illegally downloading films and music before the site's administrators were detained in 2017.

The French moderators received suspended jail terms after pleading guilty before the trial, according to the France Ouest daily.

The IT specialist received a brief jail term that was covered by his pre-trial detention.

The founder of the site, Jonathan Jolicoeur, was not extradited by Canada to France. He was convicted in absentia and sentenced to three years of jail and fined 150,000 euros.

"The civil penalties are always very high in these types of cases," the head prosecutor in Rennes, Philippe Astruc, told AFP.