Records Labels and ISP Seek Summary Judgments in Piracy Lawsuit
Under US copyright law, Internet providers must terminate the accounts of repeat infringers “in appropriate circumstances.” This requirement has been in place for more than two decades but only over the past few years have ISPs been held to the standard. Billion Dollar Lawsuits Several major music industry companies including Artista Records, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music, and Warner Records, have filed lawsuits against...
U.S. Megaupload Judge Was Replaced Due to Disney Stake, Dotcom Says
More than ten years after the shutdown of Megaupload, there have been some major developments relating to the criminal prosecution recently. Two of the three remaining defendants, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, signed an agreement with authorities to be charged in New Zealand instead of the United States. Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom wasn’t offered such a deal and is still wanted for extradition by the US Department of...
BREIN Seizes Crypto and Cash from Twice-Caught Pirate IPTV Seller
As part of its endless quest to disrupt the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content, in March 2021 Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN said it had successfully targeted yet another pirate IPTV seller. The subscriptions sold by the man provided access to more than 6,000 TV channels and in excess of 10,000 movies and TV shows via a VOD service. These packages typically cost just a fraction of the price associated with similar legal...
Court: Foreign Torrent Site Operator Can Be Sued in the US
In 2019, the makers of the superhero film “Hellboy” (HB Productions) filed a lawsuit against torrent site MKVCage at a Hawaii federal court. The movie company accused the site and its operator of promoting and distributing pirated copies of the movie, demanding to put an end to the activity. The lawsuit had an almost immediate effect as MKVCage became unreachable soon after the case went public. At the same time, the uploader stopped...
Megaupload Pair Face 10 Years in Prison on New Organized Crime Charges
Eary 2022, after more than a decade of legal uncertainty following the Megaupload raids in 2012, Kim Dotcom and co-defendants Mattias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk were still fighting to prevent their extradition to the United States. With copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering charges looming overseas, earlier this month Ortmann and van der Kolk admitted that the extradition case had “taken a heavy toll” on their...
PrimeStreams IPTV Targeted in Multi-Million Dollar Piracy Lawsuit
Most suppliers, sellers and resellers in the pirate IPTV space face an interesting conundrum. On one hand, being unsuccessful dramatically reduces the odds of legal trouble but isn’t conducive to getting rich. On the other, a good product coupled with brand awareness can lead to commercial success, at least until that profile attracts the wrong type of attention. As one of the most recognizable IPTV brands around, PrimeStreams appears...
