In years past, the Motion Picture Association of America has had success in shutting down peer-to-peer file-sharing sites like Napster, Grokster Kazaa, and recently, Isohunt.

Then the MPAA turned its attention to so-called "cyberlocker" sites that allow for easy sharing of large files, including copyrighted files. In 2011, the group filed a lawsuit (PDF) against Hotfile and its alleged manager Anton Titov, saying the site had encouraged its users to infringe copyright on a "massive" scale. Among other things, Hotfile had an incentive program that paid its users to steer downloaders toward content they had stored on Hotfile. "Their files are indeed 'hot,' as in 'stolen,'" said MPAA's general counsel at the time.

That type of tough talk is likely to remain in the entertainment industry's statements on the case, but it won't be allowed in court. During the Hotfile jury trial, scheduled to begin Monday Dec. 9, MPAA lawyers won't be allowed to use the terms "piracy," "theft," "stealing," or any derivatives of those words.

The ruling disallowing the "pejorative" terms was issued on Friday by US District Judge Kathleen Williams, who is overseeing the case. The ruling is part of a larger order laying the framework for the upcoming trial and was first reported by TorrentFreak.

"In the present case, there is no evidence that the Defendants (or Hotfile’s founders) are 'pirates' or 'thieves,' nor is there evidence that they were 'stealing' or engaged in 'piracy' or 'theft,'" wrote Hotfile lawyers in arguing for the ban.

MPAA lawyers countered that it would be inappropriate and practically impossible to keep the word "piracy" out of the trial.

"Terms like 'piracy' and 'theft' are commonplace terms often used in court decisions, statutes, and everyday speech to describe the conduct in which Hotfile and its users engaged, and for which the Court has already found Defendants liable," MPAA lawyers wrote earlier this month. The world "piracy" is literally in the job title of key personalities in the case, including the head of Warner Brothers' "Global Corporate Anti-Piracy" division. It's a word that has become part of popular culture and is used in prominent copyright legal rulings, such as the 2005 Supreme Court case MGM v. Grokster. Still, the ruling stands.

Hotfile lost on another motion over what could be brought up at trial. It asked for any reference to the criminal action against Megaupload, another "cyberlocker" site, to be disallowed, but Williams sided with the MPAA on this issue.

Despite the small victory for Hotfile over "piracy," it's going into this trial at a clear disadvantage. Key legal issues have already been decided in favor of the movie studios. In August, Williams ruled (PDF) that Hotfile did not qualify for a DMCA "safe harbor" provision, making it possible for the company to be liable for the actions of its users. Hotfile "failed to properly exercise control in light of the number of users who were blatantly infringing," the judge wrote. By building a financial incentive system for encouraging downloads, Hotfile went beyond being a storage company—it was actively promoting a distribution network.

At that time, the MPAA said it had won the case, which was only a slight overstatement. With Hotfile found to be "vicariously liable" for its users' actions, the main focus of the upcoming trial may be damages.

A second silver lining for Hotfile is that the company will be allowed to pursue a counterclaim against Warner for certain improper DMCA takedown notices.

If the case doesn't settle in the next week, it will be an interesting trial.