If you run an established, illegal website that distributes copyrighted materials (ie: http://www.icefilms.info) and rakes in $$$-$$$$ per month, what would be the best course of action to protect yourself from legal liability / consequences? ps: this is not my website.
yes it is. Agree with Spoiltdiva. By posting your site here you have made yourself a target for DMCA and copyright trolls. Specially those who get a lot of money from organizations for spotting and taking down sites like these. good luck.
Contact a lawyer well versed in copyright infringement and as needed he/she can bring in a criminal lawyer. That part of your statement is not at all true. You do not get absolved of past acts of copyright infringements merely because you stop future infringement. No, it is not. See a lawyer for actual advice pertaining to your situation and the laws where you live.
I agree with you. However TS asked what he can do now to avoid legal consequences. I assumed he is not there yet. There is still time.
just as i thought: If i continue to run the website: I am fucked If i shut it down: Still can get fucked i think i will continue to run it. thank you for the input
This is simply not true. I don't know why you would insist on telling somebody they can't be found both civilly and criminally liable for past acts of intentional copyright infringements when they can. Shutting down the site may well be the best course of action, but you can't possibly say, "you wont face any legal consequences". It is irresponsible to give someone bad information like that.
also the website i posted is not mine, its just an example of one of MANY copyright infringing websites....
That is most certainly not the conclusion I would take from what has been posted. You chances of running into a problem increase by continuing to run a site that is violating copyright. You may very well be able to minimize your exposure. You can't, however, know as a certainty that nothing will happen.
I think it's fair to say his attempt at link spamming his crappy site may have slightly backfired on him..
I assumed that site was just posted as an example and he runs a similar site. That is how I read his posts - but it really doesn't matter.
That is correct, my website is no where near as popular as the one i posted, but it still makes alot of money through advertisements. i thought if i shut it down and simply erase my website from the internet, there would be no way to pinpoint who was responsible for it and it would simply fade into history. am i mistaken?
well whatever the facts i'm sure the *owner* of icefilms.info will be mightily impressed you have drawn attention to it on the internets biggest webmaster forum..