SAN JOSE, Calif. — Last July 24, operators of RedTube claimed that hackers obtained its domain name server password and redirected its traffic to another website.

The accusation which was made in a filing at U.S. District Court in San Jose, did not name the identities of the hackers, but said that the “defendants did so with malice, ill will and intent to harm [RedTube].”

RedTube said it lost “millions of visits” by its customers by the hackers’ efforts, as well as lost value to advertising rates that are dependent upon its traffic.

The suit claimed violation of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, unfair competition, tortuous interference with prospective business advantage and trespass.

However, RedTube’s parent company Bright Imperial Ltd. of Hong Kong which waged that $6 million suit. dropped it this week, according to a story reported on www.xbiz.com.

Twenty “John Doe” defendants were named in the original complaint, though RedTube had trouble identifying them. RedTube attorneys were, however, able to subpoena a man named Chad Taylor over the possible involvement, but it isn’t clear whether RedTube was able to depose him.

What the specific reasons were for dropping the suit are as yet unknown since Thayer Preece an attorney with the Menlo Park, Calif. office of Sheppard Mullin Richter and Hampton which handles all of RedTube’s civil litigation, was not available for comment.

Preece became central to the case last year after she received an email threat over her litigation work stating that it might not be worth it in the end to continue.