Alleged Kemo IPTV Operator Faces Criminal Prosecution in Dubai Following ACE Complaint
Last October, DISH Network sued the people it believes are behind Kemo IPTV and Lemo TV, together with Florida reseller 1 Dollar IPTV. When none of the defendants responded in court, DISH asked for a $28.65 million default judgment in March. At the time, it appeared that the case would be over soon. That changed in September when one of the defendants, Ammar Towir, asked the court to set aside the default. DISH argued that the...
LaLiga Wants Major VPNs on EU Piracy Watch List Over Affiliate Marketing
Every few years, rightsholders get the opportunity to tell the European Commission which pirate sites and services deserve a spot on its Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List. These submissions traditionally focus on torrent sites, cyberlockers and pirate IPTV services. In recent editions, however, intermediaries such as hosting companies and Cloudflare have been added to the mix. LaLiga takes this expanding reach a step further. In its...
IFPI Wants Open Source YouTube Downloader yt-dlp on EU Piracy Watch List
In October 2020, the RIAA used a DMCA notice to remove the popular YouTube download tool youtube-dl from GitHub. The RIAA argued that the software circumvented YouTube’s rolling cipher technology. A few weeks later, GitHub reinstated the repository and set up a $1 million defense fund for developers facing similar claims. The music industry had more success in Germany, where labels won a lawsuit against Uberspace, the hosting provider...
Unified U.S. Site Blocking Bill Targets ISPs and DNS Resolvers But Spares VPNs
Last week, we reported that the American Copyright Protection Act (ACPA) puts virtual private networks on the list of intermediaries that could be ordered to block pirate sites. This wasn’t the only bill in the works. As expected, there’s now competition from a unified bill, officially introduced by Senator Thom Tillis and Rep. Zoe Lofgren: the DEFEND IP Act. Both lawmakers had already been working on similar legislation and the...
Nintendo Wins $4.5 Million Judgment Against r/SwitchPirates Mod ‘Archbox’
Nintendo is doing everything in its power to prevent gamers from playing pirated games on its Switch console. This involves sending a steady stream of cease and desist letters and takedown notices. If those don’t work, the company is prepared to take action in court. In June 2024, it filed a lawsuit at a Washington federal court against Arizona resident James C. Williams, known online as ‘Archbox’. Nintendo accused him of operating...
Pirate Site Must Face Chinese Streaming Giant Tencent in U.S. Court, Judge Rules
Pirate streaming sites that cater to a Chinese-speaking audience are typically not a priority for Hollywood’s anti-piracy forces. This also applies to Olevod. The site, which operates from a .com and .tv domain, has appeared in a batch of DMCA subpoenas obtained by ACE, as well as an Australian blocking order. However, it never showed up in the annual USTR lists of key foreign piracy threats. In recent years the site continued to...
