Torrentvalley.com taken down by Bulgarian authorities

Sofia, 12th November 2008

The authorities in Bulgaria have taken down Torrentvalley.com, a major BitTorrent service that enabled its users to copy and distribute copyright infringing music files.

The action was taken by the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ministry of Interior’s serious and organised crime directorate, acting on evidence from BAMP, which represents the recorded music industry in Bulgaria.

Officers from the Cyber Crime Unit raided the premises where Torrentvalley.com’s servers were located on 11th November and shut it down. The service was estimated to have aided the distribution of more than one million files containing copyright infringing music, film, software and books.

The operators of the service are now being investigated under article 172a of the Bulgarian penal code.

Ina Kileva, executive director of BAMP, says: "Torrentvalley was a major international source of copyright infringing material. This site was a gate towards more than 5 000 torrent-trackers from all over the world. The decisive action by the authorities shows that Bulgaria is no haven for copyright abuse in Internet and makes efforts to protect the rights of those involved in the creative industries."