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The founder of OiNK, the music sharing website that was shut down in 2007, has been cleared in a UK court on conspiracy to defraud charges.
In a landmark decision, the jury found Alan Ellis, 26, not guilty. When Ellis' house was searched and his financial records checked, he had large amounts of money in various bank accounts. Ellis however argued that this money was donations to the website which he had intended to use to purchase and upgrade servers for the website. His lawyers also contended that there was no conspiracy as the website was operated in the open.
Another argument used was the "Google" defence, which argues that the website was no different to Google, in cataloging and linking to other people's content, as no music file was ever hosted on the site itself. The Pirate Bay used a similar defence which did not work out for them.
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In a landmark decision, the jury found Alan Ellis, 26, not guilty. When Ellis' house was searched and his financial records checked, he had large amounts of money in various bank accounts. Ellis however argued that this money was donations to the website which he had intended to use to purchase and upgrade servers for the website. His lawyers also contended that there was no conspiracy as the website was operated in the open.
Another argument used was the "Google" defence, which argues that the website was no different to Google, in cataloging and linking to other people's content, as no music file was ever hosted on the site itself. The Pirate Bay used a similar defence which did not work out for them.
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