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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2019

    Time Event
    9:27a
    New Law Will See Pirate TV Services Blocked By ISPs in Latvia

    Consumers wishing to access TV content are spoilt for choice these days. Masses of content is available via antennas, satellite dishes, cable, and – of course – the Internet.

    The explosion of the latter has provided huge growth in access to legitimate platforms but alongside there are many thousands of unauthorized services, each looking to take a share of the massive pirate audience.

    With no clear answer to stemming this consumption, many countries are turning to web-blocking, utilizing local ISPs as somewhat porous barriers to pirate content. The latest country to take this course of action is Latvia, which introduced new laws on January 1, 2019, in an effort to reduce unauthorized consumption.

    Sites and services that rebroadcast “audiovisual programs” in the country without an appropriate license now face blocking by local ISPs. While the process will be carried out extrajudicially, it will be largely similar to regimes in other countries that practice blocking to counter infringement.

    The National Electronic Media Council, which will administer the blocks, will first send out cease-and-desist notices to sites and services that are retransmitting TV and similar content without permission. They will be given 15 days to stop their activities or face their sites being placed on a national blacklist which will be actioned by local Internet service providers.

    According to an investigation by Delfi, the state will be picking up the bill for administering the blockades, spending more than 333,000 euros in 2019 and around 280,000 euros each in 2020 and 2021.

    Most of the money will be spent on the salaries of 10 new officials with the remainder being spent on other aspects of the regime including new software for monitoring the activities of ‘pirate’ sites.

    The names and domains of all blocked sites will be published on a government website and will remain on the national blocklist for six months. It appears the authorities are preparing for the inevitable game of whac-a-mole by looking for new branches of similar services and quickly sending notifications for them to shut down.

    The news that Latvia will crack down on ‘pirate’ TV streams comes after Ukraine-based set-top box manufacturer Infomir said it will do what it can to prevent infringement.

    The company told TorrentFreak that it will begin blocking access to suspected infringing portals following complaints from “big copyright holders, anti-piracy associations, and companies that provide copyright management and protection services.”

    Meanwhile, in the UK, a second High Court injunction has been granted in an effort to prevent Internet users from accessing illegal boxing streams. Obtained by Queensbury Promotions, the home of the legendary promoter and manager Frank Warren, it will remain in effect until 2020.

    Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

    8:39p
    Movie Companies Sue Popcorn Time Operator in US Court

    Five years ago Popcorn Time took the Internet by storm as the next major piracy trend.

    The software amassed millions of users by offering BitTorrent-powered streaming in an easy-to-use Netflix-style interface.

    While the original developers shut down their project after a few months following pressure from Hollywood, others forked the application and took over. Several of these forks were shut down as well, but some remained.

    Popcorn-Time.to, originally operating from Popcorn-Time.se, is one of the longest standing forks. The application has been around sine 2014 and is still operational today. Over the years it continued development and even launched its own torrent tracker.

    With the major Hollywood studios switching their enforcement efforts to pirate streaming boxes, Popcorn Time appeared to be out the spotlight, but it remained on the radar of a group of smaller film companies.

    Venice PI, Millennium Funding, and Bodyguard Productions, which own the rights to prominent film titles such as “The Hitman’s Bodyguard,” “London Has Fallen,” and “Once Upon a Time in Venice” are working hard to shut down the site through a federal court in Hawaii.

    The case in question was originally filed over a year ago, but in an amended complaint filed a few days ago, the movie companies now identify the alleged mastermind behind the Popcorn Time fork.

    The filmmakers believe that Ukranian resident Stanislav Amelychyts is behind the operation. They obtained this name through a former hosting provider, BlackHOST, which served the Popcorn-Time.to website last year.

    “Plaintiffs bring this action to stop the massive piracy of their motion pictures brought on by the BitTorrent protocol software application Popcorn Time,” the movie companies write in their complaint.

    “Defendant STANISLAV AMELYCHYTS distributes copies of Popcorn time and promotes it for the infringing purpose of ‘watch torrent movies instantly’, including Plaintiffs’ copyright protected Works, via various distribution channels.”

    From the complaint

    The defendant in question is seen as responsible for pretty much the entire operation, including copies of the software that were distributed through the Google Play store and the uptodown.com website. On the latter site, Popcorn Time was also advertised as a ‘pirate’ tool.

    “Here, once again Defendant makes no secret of Popcorn Time’s illegitimate purpose – infringing Copyright protected content by stating ‘Popcorn Time is an app that enables you to watch tons of streaming movies – from classics to new releases…’,” the movie companies write.

    Uptodown.com proved to be a pretty popular source too, as the movie companies found out that the Windows and Android versions were downloaded more than 4 million and 12 million times respectively.

    What’s interesting about the lawsuit is that it originally started as a case against several anonymous BitTorrent pirates. All but one have been dismissed now. The remaining ‘user’ is Hawaiian resident Clinton Bovee, who is accused of using Popcorn Time and downloading several movies without permission.

    The movie companies accuse Bovee of direct copyright infringement and the Ukranian mastermind behind Popcorn Time of contributory copyright infringement.

    Through the lawsuit they demand damages, which can go up to $150,000 per pirated film. In addition, the companies request an injunction to shut down Popcorn-Time.to and have the domain transferred to an account under their control.

    At the time of writing the court has yet to rule on the request.

    While the allegations against Popcorn Time are quite detailed, the only information linking it to the Ukranian defendant comes from hosting company BlackHOST. This could be accurate, but since ‘pirate’ operations rely on fake account info at times, it’s not foolproof.

    The Popcorn-Time.to website remains operational at the time of writing. TorrentFreak reached out to the Popcorn Time team for a comment on the allegations, but we haven’t heard back yet.

    The attorney for the movie studios has filed similar actions against other alleged pirates and pirate services in the past, including Showbox and Dragon Box.

    A copy of the complaint referenced in this article is available here (pdf)

    Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons.

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