A federal judge decided that TorrentSpy Company must pay the Motion Picture Association of America retributions of $110 million.

The ruling came as a result of the accusations brought upon the company about offering thousands of copyrighted films and TV shows. The Hollywood studios, represented by the MPAA, filed the suit against the torrent site in February 2006 under the allegation of illegally uploading a large number of share files.

TorrentSpy’s owners, Justin Bunnell and Wes Park, filed for bankruptcy.

"This substantial money judgment sends a strong message about the illegality of these sites," MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said, according to Reuters. "The demise of TorrentSpy is a clear victory for the studios."

The web site was closed on March 24 and at this point the only thing left is the front page with a message for its users and visitors which states: "The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile." The TorrentSpy Team also mentions that the decision to bring the search engine to an end was taken on its own and was not related to any court order.

The MPAA hopes to turn their successful trial into a global example, as the movie industry, producers, distributors, theaters, stores lose more than $18 billion each year due to the massive movie thefts. More than half of the amount is linked to illegal copying and bootlegging and the rest is lost through illegal Internet distribution.