Judge Bars Movie Studios From Calling Websites ‘Pirates’

A Miami judge banned Hollywood studios from calling a website or its founders “pirates” and “thieves,” in a lawsuit that was then settled, on Dec. 4. Five movie studios sued file-upload service Hotfile for copyright violation, and the parties settled for $80 million, but not before District Judge Kathleen Williams drew a line between “pejorative” terms – like pirate, theft, and stealing – and “terms of art.”