Proposal to Prevent LaLiga Site-Blocking Hurting Innocent Sites Rejected in Spain
After obtaining a court order that granted permission to block pirate streaming services, top-tier football league LaLiga faced a dilemma. Many of its targets were using Cloudflare’s reverse proxy service, which in basic terms allows a webhost’s IP address to remain private while one of Cloudflare’s IP address is exposed to site users. Since hundreds of sites can share the same Cloudflare IP address, blocking one pirate site would end...
UEFA Joins Anti-Piracy Coalition ACE to Protect Growing Revenues from Piracy Surge
European football association UEFA was founded in 1954 to protect the interests of European football, particularly within the global FIFA body. During the early years its powers were rather limited. UEFA was mostly an administrative union, consisting of three employees who issued non-binding recommendations to member associations. In 1955, less than a year after UEFA was formed, journalists of the French newspaper L’Équipe proposed...
MPA Targets ‘Zombie’ Pirate Brands Including Fmovies, Cuevana and Aniwave
In the past, rightsholders have frequently complained that takedown requests can be futile. Even if pirate sites take action, content can swiftly reappear. Taking down entire websites has always been the weapon of choice, but that doesn’t always solve the problem either. Pirate Site Operators On/Off the Radar When public pirate sites first became popular at the beginning of the century, many operated as central hubs. Their operators...
Cloudflare ‘Resists’ Piracy Blocks, U.S. Govt. Opposes EU Co-Op Obligations
During the past several years, sports rightsholders in Europe have made it clear that piracy of fleeting live events poses unique problems that require a strong response. Existing site blocking measures were seen as insufficient. Standard takedown notices reportedly lacked the necessary teeth to ensure compliance, something that could be addressed under revised EU law, rightsholders said.. In 2022, requests for European Commission...
Anti-Piracy Groundhog Day: Recycled Arguments Plague USTR’s Notorious Markets Review
Every year, the US Trade Representative (USTR) issues an updated overview of “Notorious Markets” that allegedly facilitate copyright infringement. This review is put together based on recommendations from copyright holders and other interested stakeholders. The ultimate goal of the annual report, which was first released in 2006, is to help combat piracy. The USTR’s report is meant to highlight economic harm and raise awareness....
DISH Identifies Lemo/Kemo Pirate IPTV Operators & Sues U.S. Reseller for $27M
As pirate IPTV services have continued to grow in recent years, TV broadcasters and distributors have intensified their efforts to combat piracy. Pay TV provider DISH Network has been at the forefront of these efforts. In April, the company sued then-unknown operators of popular ‘pirate’ streaming services Lemo TV and Kemo IPTV. Through a lawsuit filed at a federal court in Texas, and various subpoenas to obtain information from...
