Dutch Usenet indexer MasterNZB terminates service

Dutch Usenet indexer MasterNZB has terminated its service at the request of BREIN. The Dutch anti-piracy group threatened to take  MasterNZB to court if it continued its service. Though MasterNZB admin Stefan M was unwilling at first, he eventually yielded to BREIN.

It is likely that the decision of Stefan M was influenced by last weeks ruling in the Newzbin case. The London High Court held Newzbin liable for facilitating copyright infringement. Moreover, in similar cases brought against websites and p2p services, Dutch judges have held the filesharing platforms liable for facilitating copyright infringement. An important factor in determining whether a site is liable, is whether it profits from the coypright infringements. Oftentimes this is the case because the platforms have a subscription fee, charge money for their client software, or have substantial revenues from advertising.

So far, this is the fifteenth indexer that BREIN has shut down. BREIN is currently in litigation against FTD. It is expected that BREIN will win its case against FTD.