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isoHunt is closing down in three days -- October 23 -- forever., The very popular BitTorrent index Web site has agreed in an out-of-court settlement to shut itself down, avoiding an upcoming court battle with the major Hollywood studios -- including Disney, Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox -- which it was expected to lose. As part of the settlement, isoHunt has also agreed to pay the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) $110 million USD. The MPAA has been trying to shut isohunt down since February 2006, when it issued a press release saying it would sue the site for copyright infringement. The settlement was reached on Thursday, October 17. The MPAA's statement declares the settlement a win for the entertainment industry, and legal content download services, according to this Register post. The parent company of isoHunt is expected to be able to pay, at most, between $2m and $4m, according to this BBC item.

"It started as a programming hobby in my university days that has become so, so much more."

isoHunt Inc. is run by Canadian national Gary Fung, out of Vancouver, British Columbia. Fung started the Web site on January 2003. On his blog he has written about how it began as a hobby, thanked some of the people who helped make it a world-class Web site; expressed sadness at the loss of isoHunt -- "his baby," and expressed his frustration at the way his free speech has been curtailed by the the out-of-court-settlement. This Globe & Mail article from 2011 profiled how Fung was facing both Canadian, and American legal challenges.

While Fung has agreed not to appeal the settlement with the MPAA, he is, reportedly, trying to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court -- The Register's item covers this best.