A number of publishers including Time INC, Hachette and Forbes have won a lawsuit against a file-sharing web site that hosted entire copies of their magazines and delivered them to thousands of registered users.
Mygazines.com allowed users to upload and share digital copies of magazines such as Marie Claire, Esquire and Playboy, catalogues and other copyrighted material.
The case was settled in early September, with Mygazines agreeing to remove copyrighted material, monitor uploads for any content not authorised by the publishers and open a channel to allow Mygazines to be notified when copyrighted content appears.
Mygazines.com now explains on its front page that "due to monetary reasons and the state of the global economy" mygazines.com had to be closed down." "We simply ran out of funds to support the daily operations," it says.