With the backing of the Motion Picture Association, the studios
had taken the action over the web site Film88.com, which charged
between $1 and $1.50 to view a variety of popular movies.
The MPA's director of worldwide anti-piracy operations, John
Malcolm, said MasterSurf set up an international web of servers
designed to shelter the venture for liability.
The trade group said Tan previously operated an almost identical
website, Movie88.com, out of Taiwan until authorities there shut
the company down. MasterSurf's primary servers were then hosted out
of the Netherlands and Iran, but the MPA and a Netherlands
anti-piracy organisation used Dutch courts to shut down servers
there, according to the MPA.
Tan and MasterSurf also were barred from infringing on any of
the studios' movies, and ordered to destroy any and all copies of
copyright films that reside on servers or in other formats.
