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Artyom Vaulin, the alleged KickassTorrents owner, through his lawyer has asked the DoJ to drop the charges against him and release him from prison, arguing that he can't be held criminally liable for KAT users’ infringing behavior.
Artem Vaulin, the alleged founder of KickassTorrents, was arrested in Poland in July and has been held in a local prison since. The Polish police acted on a criminal complaint from the US government, and now the 30-year-old Ukrainian is charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering.
Vaulin hired an expert in file-sharing cases, who was defending MegaUpload and isoHunt – Ira Rothken. The lawyer claimed that allegations against the site owner are baseless. While not addressing whether Vaulin is indeed the owner of the site, Rothken argues that the changes don’t hold up and requests the US authorities to dismiss the criminal complaint against his client and release him from prison.
Ira Rothken argues that the alleged KAT owner can’t be held responsible for the infringing actions of the KickassTorrents users, since criminal secondary or indirect copyright infringement does not exist under US law. The lawyer points out that KickassTorrents itself never hosted any infringing content, but only stored torrent files. In other words, possible copyright infringements would take place after the visitors had left KickassTorrents. Besides, the affidavit lacks specific examples linking Vaulin to infringing downloads: actually, the only relevant infringement quoted is one committed by an agent from Homeland Security Investigations.
Vaulin’s defense believes that the absence of any specific allegations is not an oversight, but rather a side effect of how far the site owner is removed from the copyright infringing acts. Noting the weakness of the criminal claims, Rothken asks the US Department of Justice to drop the charges against Vaulin and set him free.
The lawyer has sent the US government a letter, which also urges the authorities not to question, interrogate, or interview Artyom Vaulin. In addition, Rothken asked to allow him immediately speak with Vaulin in prison so he can assist with his defense.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.
Artem Vaulin, the alleged founder of KickassTorrents, was arrested in Poland in July and has been held in a local prison since. The Polish police acted on a criminal complaint from the US government, and now the 30-year-old Ukrainian is charged with criminal copyright infringement and money laundering.
Vaulin hired an expert in file-sharing cases, who was defending MegaUpload and isoHunt – Ira Rothken. The lawyer claimed that allegations against the site owner are baseless. While not addressing whether Vaulin is indeed the owner of the site, Rothken argues that the changes don’t hold up and requests the US authorities to dismiss the criminal complaint against his client and release him from prison.
Ira Rothken argues that the alleged KAT owner can’t be held responsible for the infringing actions of the KickassTorrents users, since criminal secondary or indirect copyright infringement does not exist under US law. The lawyer points out that KickassTorrents itself never hosted any infringing content, but only stored torrent files. In other words, possible copyright infringements would take place after the visitors had left KickassTorrents. Besides, the affidavit lacks specific examples linking Vaulin to infringing downloads: actually, the only relevant infringement quoted is one committed by an agent from Homeland Security Investigations.
Vaulin’s defense believes that the absence of any specific allegations is not an oversight, but rather a side effect of how far the site owner is removed from the copyright infringing acts. Noting the weakness of the criminal claims, Rothken asks the US Department of Justice to drop the charges against Vaulin and set him free.
The lawyer has sent the US government a letter, which also urges the authorities not to question, interrogate, or interview Artyom Vaulin. In addition, Rothken asked to allow him immediately speak with Vaulin in prison so he can assist with his defense.
Thanks to TorrentFreak for providing the source of the article.