Employee Who Leaked ‘Spider-Man’ Blu-ray Sentenced to Nearly 5 Years Prison on Gun Charge
Three years ago, pirated Blu-ray copies of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” began circulating on pirate sites, weeks before their official release. Such high-profile leaks are rare, and the source of the breach remained unknown until earlier this year. In February, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted 37-year-old Steven Hale from Tennessee, a former employee of a disc manufacturing and distribution company in Memphis. While working at the...
Takedown Notices for Pirate Live Streams Skyrocket, But Why?
Earlier this year, accounting firm Grant Thornton published a report in partnership with the Live Content Coalition to evaluate the effectiveness of takedown notices. One of the main conclusions was that, in 2024, only a small fraction of takedown notices sent by a group of select rightsholders resulted in suspensions of pirated live streams. Of the 10.8 million notices recorded last year, only 19% resulted in suspensions of pirated...
ACE & DAZN Shut Down a Major Sports Piracy Site in a “DMCA Ignored” Country
Major sports rightsholders and broadcasters are building momentum for what could be a crucial couple of years ahead. The USTR has promised to focus on live sports in its Notorious Markets review before rightsholders’ eyes turn to the European Commission, hoping that their endless patience for measures to curtail live streaming leads to something substantial that justifies the wait. In the meantime, enforcement operations continue....
U.S. Gov’t & Tech Giants Unite Against ISP Piracy Liability Ruling at Supreme Court
Nearly five years ago, a Virginia jury ordered Cox Communications to pay a billion dollars in damages to a coalition of record labels, including Sony and Universal. The jury concluded that the Internet provider was liable for the pirating activities of its subscribers, as it failed to terminate their accounts after multiple infringement notices. The liability ruling was upheld at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, prompting Cox to...
‘Modded Hardware’ Agrees to Settle Nintendo’s Copyright Lawsuit for $2 Million
In June 2024, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against Modded Hardware and its alleged operator, Michigan-resident Ryan Daly. In a complaint filed at a federal court in Seattle, Washington, Nintendo accused Modded Hardware of copyright infringement and violating the DMCA by trafficking in circumvention devices, among other things. The case is part of Nintendo’s broader enforcement strategy to prevent the public from playing pirated games on...
Piracy Shield Study Reveals Massive Overblocking & Collateral Damage
From the perspective of rightsholders, blocking domains and IP addresses is necessary to counter a persistent threat from online piracy. In this context, they insist it is reasonable to force internet intermediaries to intervene, using blocking measures that also elevate the risk of unintended consequences and collateral damage. With blocking demands moving towards a ‘real time’ requirement as standard, increasingly unsupervised...
