Six major movie studios are suing Megaupload...

Six major movie studios are suing Megaupload and its operators for facilitating, encouraging and profiting from “massive copyright infringement of movies and television shows,” said an MPAA news release Monday (http://bit.ly/1mVIK9q). Megaupload’s main file-hosting site, Megaupload.com, was shut down in 2012, and its operators were indicted on federal criminal charges, MPAA said. But the new lawsuit -- filed in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. -- is a civil action “seeking damages and defendants’ profits for copyright infringement,” according to the suit (http://bit.ly/1hm6eoI). “Infringing content on Megaupload.com and its affiliates was available in at least 20 languages, targeting a broad global audience,” said MPAA Global General Counsel Steven Fabrizio. “According to the government’s indictment, the site reported more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and cost U.S. copyright owners more than half a billion dollars.” The suit pointed to Megaupload.com’s “Uploader Rewards” program as evidence the company “openly paid Megaupload users money to upload popular unauthorized and unlicensed content.” Megaupload could not be reached for comment.