PIPCU forces closure of popular sports torrent site
A UK police team dedicated to fighting IP crime has forced the closure of a popular sports-themed torrent website.
The site, called the Sports Torrent Network (STN), offered links to content including European football matches, US National Hockey League games, Formula 1 races and documentaries.
STN did not host pirated media files itself but helped internet users to share files over peer-to-peer networks.
The site’s administrators themselves decided to take STN offline following a warning from the UK’s Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).
"PIPCU has the lawful right to pursue action against you and against thesportstorrentnetwork.co.uk website in order to prevent, detect and disrupt criminal activity," a warning sent to the site’s operators said.
STN’s operators thanked its users in a message, before removing the site and its corresponding Twitter account last week.
PIPCU launched in September last year after securing £2.56m from the UK's Intellectual Property Office.
Its funding is due to expire in 2015 but last week WIPR reported that Mike Weatherley, a member of the UK government and an IP adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, had called for it to be made permanent.
The unit has previously carried out raids that resulted in several arrests for infringing copyright and selling counterfeit goods.
