In 2017, the newly formed anti-piracy group Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) announced its presence to the world. Headed up by the traditional studios of the MPA plus Netflix and Amazon, the coalition also featured dozens of global movie and TV show giants.
The clear aim of ACE is to tackle video piracy on a global scale by pooling resources, finances, and knowledge. At least publicly, the coalition had a relatively slow start but as projects came to fruition, sites and platforms associated with piracy began to fall.
Some legal battles were conducted publicly through US courts (Omniverse, SetTV) but many others were settled quietly behind the scenes, without any official announcements. But perhaps the most dramatic, such as the takedowns of major IPTV player Vaders and file-hosting platforms Openload and Streamango, began silently, never went to trial, and were only confirmed when big cash settlements were revealed.
But of course, cash wasn’t the only thing ACE demanded from these players. In numerous cases so far (1,2,3,4,5), ‘pirate’ platforms were also compelled to hand over their domain names to the MPA. However, instead of lying dormant, ACE now uses them to deliver a short message to former users, declaring that platforms have been shut down due to copyright infringement.
A few seconds later visitors are then diverted to ACE’s anti-piracy portal, a place where movies and TV shows can’t be found. Instead, pro-copyright messages are presented with every click alongside details of previous ACE successes, shutdowns, and some (but certainly not all) ACE domain seizures.
Despite plenty of smaller domain seizures, traffic to Alliance4Creativity.com was minimal right up until September 2019 but then things took off in a big way. SimilarWeb stats reveal that at the start of the month the site had around 10,000 monthly visits.
At the start of October, however, visits had skyrocketed to around 620,000 per month, an increase of more than 6000%.
While this increase is impressive in its own right, by the start of November ACE’s website was receiving 2.3 million monthly visits, around 23,000% up on September’s traffic. Leading pirate sites aside, many illicit platforms never reach this number of eyeballs.
Given that the Openload/Streamango shutdown took place on October 31, it seems likely that the majority of the traffic to ACE’s site comes from former users of the defunct file-hosting platforms.
Whether the figures will continue to rise when SimilarWeb’s stats update remains a question, however. It’s possible that all traffic is yet to be accounted for but as a negative, former Openload and Streamango users are unlikely to keep revisiting the domains now that they know that ACE is in control.
TorrentFreak approached ACE for comment on its increasingly ‘popular’ website, which is now delivering its anti-piracy message while being largely fueled by traffic from seized ‘pirate’ domains. Unfortunately, an ACE spokesperson declined on the group’s behalf.
In the background, however, more seizures are taking place. TF has discovered that in recent weeks ACE quietly took over the domains of another pair of allegedly-infringing sites, Jailbrokenfirestick.com and Jailbrokefiretv.com. In common with other smaller seizures, no official announcements were made but nevertheless, will still add to the Alliance’s growing website traffic.
Finally, there’s a strong chance that ACE will be analyzing the traffic hitting these former ‘pirate’ domains that they now own. While that data isn’t likely to be particularly useful from a direct litigation perspective, it will certainly prove of interest to the global anti-piracy alliance.
The data for our weekly download chart is estimated by TorrentFreak, and is for informational and educational reference only. All the movies in the list are Web-DL/Webrip/HDRip/BDrip/DVDrip unless stated otherwise.
RSS feed for the articles of the recent weekly movie download charts.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/1577721780_worldfea.png2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-30 18:02:582019-12-30 18:02:58Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week on BitTorrent – 12/30/19
For years on end, entertainment industry insiders have regularly portrayed Australia as a piracy-ridden country.
To see if this is indeed the case, the Government conducts annual consumer surveys to study local piracy habits. In recent years, this has revealed a steady decline in piracy.
The latest online copyright infringement report, released by the Department of Communications and the Arts this week, suggests that there’s been a steady decrease in the number of people who consume music, movies, and TV shows illegally. This follows the trend that was revealed in earlier reports.
According to the Government, 16% of the population can be classified as pirates. This is a drastic drop compared to last year when a similar study found that 32% were pirates. In 2015, when the first survey was taken, the number was even higher at 43%.
These are indeed impressive numbers. However, this doesn’t translate directly to more revenue for the entertainment industries. In fact, in many cases revenue appears to be down, based on the survey data.
For example, the total spend on music dropped from $88.34 in 2018 to $70.01 in 2019. This is the lowest amount since 2015 when the survey started. The drop is mostly caused by fewer concert and merchandise sales as well as physical music purchases.
Although piracy has seemingly plummeted, the percentage of Australians who spend money on music remains unchanged at 46%.
A similar decline in revenue is visible for games and movies. For both categories, consumers spend less than in previous years, despite the dropping piracy rates. The only category where spending is up is TV, which saw a big spike in 2019, as shown below.
If anything, the survey makes it clear that less piracy doesn’t automatically translate to higher spending. In fact, those who pirate and buy tend to spend much more on average, compared to those who only purchase content 100% legally.
The report found that people who consume everything legally spend $42 on average per three months. Their counterparts, who pirate and buy, spend more than twice as much, $84. in the same period.
This finding is consistent with previous research indicating that “hybrid” consumers (who pirate and buy) are bringing in the most money, probably because they are the most content-hungry consumers.
Another noteworthy finding deals with pirate site blockades, which are increasingly ordered by Australian courts. These are meant to decrease piracy, which the report appears to back up.
Of all respondents, only 7% say they will bypass a blocked site if they encounter one. The vast majority, 58%, will simply give up. This suggests that pirate site blocking is extremely effective, but is it?
Looking closer at the data we see that the 7% number comes from the entire survey. This means that the responses also include the answers from the 84% who don’t pirate to begin with. These people obviously have no intention to circumvent the blockades.
Finally, the report shows that those who say they will circumvent blockades see VPN services as the ideal tool. Of all respondents, 44% mentioned VPNs, which is up from 30% last year.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/computerkeyboardfeat.png2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-30 08:01:562019-12-30 08:01:56Australian Piracy Rates Drop, But So Does Spending
For as long as there have been torrent sites, streaming platforms, ‘pirate’ apps, download sites, services, and any variation thereof, there have been lawsuits attempting to hinder, paralyze, or shut them down.
It’s hardly breaking news to state that defending such legal action can be a punishing affair, not just emotionally but financially too. Usually brought by powerful entertainment companies and broadcasters, anyone tackling the above needs not only a steely disposition but also the deepest of deep pockets.
As a result, people facing lawsuits for operating such platforms have regularly run fundraisers, invariably claiming that they need huge sums of money to battle what are frequently depicted as marauding copyright bullies intent on destroying the free Internet.
While in some cases that might be at least partially true, many rely on the same language as their aggressors in an effort to rally the masses to part with their cash. In some cases people have a reasonable argument. In others they do not.
Nevertheless, these situations are always interesting, particularly when one factors in the response from the public.
Platforms that have always provided a free service, for example, are often considered more worthy of a donation when it comes to fighting ‘Goliath’. The same can be said of those who operated in a perceived gray area, such as unblocking platforms that have never offered any copyright works, or dual-use open-source projects.
Indeed, one rarely needs to be in receipt of a law degree to assess a platform and decide whether the litigation at hand is warranted or a true case of bullying that warrants a bit of moral and financial support. Equally, spotting the most ridiculous of ’causes’ shouldn’t be hard for anyone.
For example, take the matter of iStreamItAll that is currently trying to raise $10,000 via a GoFundMe campaign to battle Hollywood and the US Government.
“We need all the help we can to fight Hollywood, and the federal charges brought upon one of the owners Darryl Polo. Any help would be appreciated and will go towards our legal defense,” it reads.
Ignoring the not insignificant fact that the defendants have already pleaded guilty, $10,000 won’t go anywhere in a case like this. It would take perhaps several hundred thousand dollars to fight in any meaningful way but it would be money down the drain – people do not easily win cases like this in the US. That’s why there are others that are aiming higher – a lot higher.
A couple of months ago we reported on the case of Boom Media, a full-blown pirate IPTV reselling business that is now being sued by DISH Networks in the United States. Boom Media is asking for $250,000 in donations to get things started in what is being portrayed as a battle to prevent DISH getting its hands on subscriber data.
If the broadcaster does get what it wants (and to be fair this seems likely) that could mean subscribers to the service receiving demands for cash settlements. This, of course, is somewhat akin to copyright-trolling, with low-level users being pursued for thousands of dollars to make supposed lawsuits go away.
That’s why the response to this plea for donations was of particular interest. Even when scouring the usual ‘pirate’ haunts, discussions, forums and chats, finding a supporting voice for the fundraiser is particularly hard.
The general consensus seems to be that this was a business that has never shared a single penny of its profits with its users yet is now asking for donations to fight off a lawsuit on the basis that doing so will prevent subscribers’ details ending up on the desks of DISH lawyers. The irony, particularly when viewed in the light of copyright trolls’ actions in general, is not difficult to spot.
Companies like Boom Media knew very well what they were doing. They knew the consequences of running a pirate IPTV service or selling access to one. Lawsuits like this one should’ve been expected, prepared for, with litigation costs factored in as a cost of doing business. You know, like regular properly-run businesses do every day.
That the costs of keeping user data safe should now fall to the users of those services, some of whom will have had no idea that Boom wasn’t legitimate, is as offensive to users as the copyright holders complaining about their activities. But for other users, who knew they were buying into a cheap “black market” service (Boom’s own words), there should be zero surprises that this was a potential outcome.
Paying the company’s legal fees, which will then get swallowed up by lawyers in a case that cannot be reasonably won, is the choice of the donor. But the fact is that these fundraisers rarely raise any notable funds and in every case – every case – donors get absolutely nothing back, not even a free subscription in the million to once chance the service reappears offering the same thing.
This isn’t really about fighting for freedom, for the Internet, or helping David beat an evil Goliath, it’s about supporting people who knew from the start that what they were doing was illegal and now want yet more money to bail them out of a hole. And from the dozens of posts we’ve read on the topic, pirates everywhere know that and do not appreciate it.
All pirates have their causes, from the lowly “media is too expensive” to the militant “sticking it to the man”. But funding a for-profit ‘pirate’ LLC’s fight against a for-profit broadcaster which is also an LLC is clearly not on most pirates’ agendas.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/money-feat.jpg2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-29 22:00:532019-12-29 22:00:53Funding a Pirate Business’s Lawsuit is Mostly Unpopular With Pirates
For as long as pirate sites and services have been around, entertainment industry groups have poured significant resources into having them closed down.
When Napster went down in flames 20 years ago, some people thought that was mission accomplished. In 2005, when the MGM vs Grokster case went all the way to the Supreme Court and went in MGM’s favor, many people believed that file-sharing had received its fatal blow.
Today, 15 years later, the blows are still being delivered but the wars continue. In many respects, piracy is stronger than ever. In others, notably music, the industry is finally meeting piracy head-on with value-for-money services that in terms of quality, presentation, and ease of use, pirates cannot easily compete with.
As we take a look today at the Top 19 most significant piracy shutdowns of 2019, the emphasis is clear. The overwhelming majority of pirate site and service closures during the past 12 months have been at the hands of entertainment companies involved in the supply and distribution of movies, TV shows, and sporting events.
January – Reddit’s /r/soccerstreams bites the dust
Reddit’s /r/soccerstreams was once a discussion platform catering to around 420,000 subscribers and many more casual visitors. Among other things, the sub-Reddit allowed users to post links to live games, making it easy for soccer/football fans to watch matches for free.
As a result, the forum (or more accurately, Reddit itself) was inundated with DMCA complaints from rightsholders, demanding that links be removed. Reddit’s admins ultimately lost patience, informing the mods of /r/soccerstreams to take decisive action or face being banned. In the end, the sub fell on its own sword and shut itself down.
May – One Step TV
After what appeared to be a 2018 launch, pirate IPTV service OneStepTV grew to offer around 600 TV channels and 20,000 pieces of VOD content for $25 per month or less. While the service attracted plenty of initially happy customers, things started to go sour in April 2019.
After experiencing difficulty processing payments, One Step TV ultimately stopped doing business due to threats by the legal team of the Alliance of Creativity and Entertainment.
May – Vader Streams
As far as IPTV ‘brands’ go, Vaders was one of the most recognizable in the space. With a large customer base and reportedly reliable service, Vaders disappeared into thin air early May, leaving little but rumors and educated guesses in its wake.
In August, however, it was revealed that the Alliance for Creativity took the platform down, leaving Vaders’ operators with an alleged $10 million settlement bill.
June – Convert2MP3
Despite the huge popularity of legal music streaming services such as Spotify, so-called YouTube-ripping platforms remain a thorn in the side of the world’s major recording labels. By facilitating the downloading of tracks to users’ machines, both labels and YouTube are said to lose revenue due to these services.
With dozens of monthly visitors, Convert2MP3 was one of the biggest. As a result it attracted the negative attentions of music groups IFPI and BVMI, which sued the platform in Germany. A court handed down a preliminary injunction against Convert2MP3 but then the ripping service settled the case by shutting down, handing over an unspecified amount in compensation, and surrendering its domain.
June – IPTV Bulgaria
In common with similar operations against other illicit IPTV providers in Eastern Europe, a June operation in Bulgaria was based in criminal law rather than civil lawsuits.
Supported by Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordinated Coalition (IPC3) and the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), the raids reportedly took down a pirate IPTV service with an estimated 700,000 worldwide subscribers. It was never named and no follow-up investigation has yet been made public.
July / August – eBook.bike
Legal actions against sites dedicated to eBooks are relatively rare. Those that see the parties duel it out in public beforehand are almost non-existent. For this reason alone, the lawsuit filed by author John Van Stry against former Pirate Party Canada leader Travis McCrea is easily one of the most unusual cases of the year.
A brief summary of the case is that someone uploaded Van Stry’s books to McCrea’s eBook download platform eBook.bike. Van Stry accused McCrea of not doing enough to control piracy on his platform, McCrea asked to be sued and Van Stry complied.
For reasons unknown, in July or August eBook.bike shut down, seemingly voluntarily. The case, documented in detail here on TF, is not only still ongoing but also one of the most unorthodox lawsuits we’ve ever covered. How it will end is up for debate but if the aim was to shut down eBook.bike, victory was achieved months ago.
September and ongoing – Manga Rock
Given the focus on traditionally famous large sites such as The Pirate Bay or RARBG, Mango Rock may have seemed like an insignificant player, but nothing could be further from the truth. According to data from MUSO, the so-called ‘scanlation’ site was even more popular than The Pirate Bay.
The demise of the platform is unusual in several respects, not least that the operators of the platform announced that they’d come to the realization that piracy is damaging. To remedy that they are now working on a legal platform as Manga Rock, which is still operational, is phased out.
September – Xtream Codes and other IPTV players
The huge police operation that spread across Italy, the Netherlands, France, and Bulgaria in September sent shockwaves through the IPTV community. More than two dozen people were arrested and at least 180 servers were seized.
While it wasn’t the only target, Xtream Codes, the software/system utilized by a reported 5,000 IPTV services and their 50 million customers, was wiped out leaving swathes of the IPTV scene in chaos. Little has been heard of the operation since but it does seem that many providers have found alternative solutions and are now back in business.
September – Coto Movies
While browser-based sites and services remain popular with pirates, apps for both Android and iOS are a convenient option for those seeking a straightforward consumption experience. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by entertainment companies who have targeted several over the years in an attempt to stem the tide.
Early September, third-party iOS app store TweakBox removed several movie piracy apps in response to legal pressure. Following that news, the people behind the CotoMovies app decided to close down. It later transpired that the makers of the films Hellboy and Angel Has Fallen forced the move.
The operator of CotoMovies issued an apology but then poured fuel on the fire by stating he would be handing over user data so that the movie companies could “enforce their valuable intellectual property.”
October – Share-Online.biz
As Germany’s largest file-hosting site serving between six and ten million users, Share-Online.biz had a target on its back. In 2017, anti-piracy group GVU filed a criminal complaint against the platform. Two years later, the platform was shut down following police raids in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
Three suspects in their forties and fifties were reportedly placed under investigation.
October – Pirate CDNs
Founded in 2013, Moonwalk acted as a back-end for pirate streaming sites. Back in February, TF was informed that it was offering more than 33,000 movies and TV shows to site operators who embedded Moonwalk content and advertising into their own sites.
In Russia, Moonwalk was said to have serviced around 80% of pirate streaming platforms but in October it was all over. BREIN, the MPA and Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment teamed up, leaving Moonwalk to announce that it would “NEVER be up again.”
Later that month the Moonwalk closure proved infectious, with several other ‘pirate’ CDNs also shutting down.
October – RapidVideo
RapidVideo was one of the most popular file-hosting sites around but like many of its competitors, it had plenty of entertainment industry rivals. Under pressure from the MPA and ACE while facing a lawsuit in Germany filed by Warner Bros. and Netflix, RapidVideo threw in the towel, leaving millions of users behind.
October – Openload / Streamango / StreamCherry
Already known to millions of users generating around 65 million hits per month, Openload hit the mainstream headlines in 2018 when it was claimed to be generating more traffic than Hulu and HBO Go.
Previously branded a “notorious market” by the USTR, this year Openload decided to stop paying uploaders. The move was controversial but nothing compared to what followed.
At the end of October, following some kind of agreement with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, Openload suddenly shut down, surrendered its domains, and paid “significant damages”. At the same time, hosting sites Streamango, StreamCherry, and VeryStream also disappeared.
October – Boom Media
Boom Media was once one of the most recognizable brands in the IPTV reseller space, offering packages from providers including Nitro, Epic, Beast, MFG, and Vaders. In October, however, it found itself on the wrong end of a lawsuit filed by DISH Network.
Despite signs that it might put up a fight, Boom Media shut itself down but the lawsuit hasn’t gone away.
November – Movie2free.com, Thailand’s largest pirate site
With millions of views per day, Movie2Free.com was not only popular in Southeast Asia, it was also one of the largest pirate sites on the Internet, period. However, in early November all that changed when Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation confirmed that the streaming portal had been shut down following a request from the Motion Picture Association.
November – Omniverse One World Television
In February 2019, several major Hollywood studios under the ACE banner filed a lawsuit against IPTV service Omniverse One World Television.
The company put up a spirited defense, claiming that it acted entirely legally and had appropriate licensing deals in place. In the end, however, ACE prevailed. Alongside a reported $50 million settlement agreement, Omniverse shut itself down.
November – Gears Reloaded
Finally, the strange story of YouTuber and entrepreneur Bill Omar Carrasquillo, otherwise known as OMI IN A HELLCAT. Carrasquillo is the self-confessed founder of IPTV service Gears Reloaded, a business that he claims to this day was fully legal.
In November he announced that he’d been raided by the FBI and IRS who “took everything” as part of a copyright infringement and tax evasion investigation.
Despite witnesses and Carrasquillo himself appearing on TV to discuss the raids, rumors persist that he made the whole thing up. Meanwhile, the authorities are refusing to confirm anything, one way or the other.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/fire.jpg2521200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-29 11:59:582019-12-29 11:59:58The Top 19 Most Significant Piracy Shutdowns of 2019
Since the release of the first episode back in 2011, Game of Thrones has conquered the hearts of many people. Unfortunately for HBO, not all of those fans enjoyed it through legal channels.
For several years Game of Thrones has been the most pirated TV-show. This year, when the final season aired, the interest was once again overwhelming.
As highlighted in the past, Game of Thrones is good for many millions of downloads per week. The show is so popular on pirate sites that it visibly boosted traffic this year.
This will be the last year that the HBO show tops the chart though. The series has ended which means that the most-torrented title will be up for grabs in 2020. There are a few strong contenders for this spot, including Disney’s The Mandalorian.
The Disney-exclusive show is listed in third place this year but whether it will maintain its momentum remains to be seen. This year’s numbers may in part be boosted by the fact that Disney+ is not available globally yet.
The Walking Dead saw a dip in official TV ratings and has been passed in the ‘pirate’ list by a few shows including The Big Bang Theory and newcomer Chernobyl. The latter did very well as a mini-series, but won’t return in the coming years.
It’s worth noting that BitTorrent traffic only makes up a small portion of the piracy landscape. A lot of people use streaming sites and services nowadays, which generally do not report viewing stats.
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Below we have compiled a list of the most torrented TV-shows worldwide (single episode). The ranking is based on several sources, including statistics reported by public BitTorrent trackers. Full season downloads are not included.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/got-thrones-feat.jpg2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-29 01:58:562019-12-29 01:58:56Game of Thrones is the Most Torrented TV-Show of 2019
Take Two Interactive’s Red Dead Redemption (RDR1) is considered one of the greatest video games of all time but the open world masterpiece had a considerable shortcoming.
Officially a console-only release, millions of PC gamers were denied access to one of the most expensive video games ever made, an itch that remains unscratched to this day.
With the 2018 release of Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2), developer Rockstar Studios finally bridged the gap but for many fans, not having the original title on PC was something that needed to be addressed. Back in August, this simmering demand looked like it was going to be met with an announcement revealing a new project titled ‘Red Dead Redemption: Damned Enhancement Project’.
The plan was not only to modify the Xbox360 and PS3 versions of RDR1 and bring the game to the PC, but also to improve the title with better graphics and additional features.
In September, however, things started to go off the rails. Project lead ‘DemandDev’ took to GTAForums to reveal that development had been stopped. He didn’t directly state that Take-Two had put him under pressure but complained of being bullied by a corporation.
“They done shady stuff getting my private info and contacted my family,” he wrote. “I’ve been contacting people to spread word. I’m not letting them them bully me and keep my mouth shut. I complied and stopped progress but hopefully I can sort out this.”
Several months later, sorting it out will now have to be actioned through the courts. On December 26, Take-Two Interactive filed a lawsuit at a New York court against a Johnathan Wyckoff and John Does 1-10.
“Take-Two brings this action to maintain control over its world-famous video
games in the face of Wyckoff’s publicly stated intent to distribute unauthorized software files that would dramatically change the content of Take-Two’s video games,” the lawsuit reads.
“Those unauthorized changes include but are not limited to importing the entire game map of 2010’s Red Dead Redemption into the 2018 game Red Dead Redemption II, enhancing graphics and visuals in Take-Two’s Red Dead Redemption game, and allowing players to play an enhanced version of the game on personal computer (‘PCs’), a platform for which Take-Two itself has not yet released the Read Dead Redemption game.”
Claiming breaches of its intellectual property rights and user licensing agreements, Take-Two says that it “repeatedly” asked Wyckoff to cease and desist. When these contacts failed to stop the project, Take-Two said it was forced to take legal action.
Take-Two’s lawsuit details two matters. The first, the ‘RDRII Project’, aims to add the full RDR1 game map to RDR2. This, the company says, would not only “dramatically change the RDR2 experience but also reduce interest in purchasing a future release of RDR1 or a RDR1 add-on map for RDR2. The company doesn’t state it intends to release either, however.
The second targets the ‘Red Dead Redemption: Damned Enhancement Project’ which Take-Two says would utilize game files from Grand Theft Auto V and RDR1 “to vastly improve the graphics and performance of the game” and enable players to play RDR1 on PC, where it isn’t officially available, “thereby destroying the market for an official, updated version from Take-Two, and creating competition for Take-Two’s PC-version of RDR2.”
Take-Two also takes issue with Wyckoff’s claimed hobbyist status by implying donations received are effectively payments and that the projects serve to drive traffic to his social media and streaming accounts. The company adds that efforts to resolve the dispute peacefully failed, claiming that Wyckoff suggested that if he didn’t release the project, it might somehow get “leaked” online.
Ultimately, Wyckoff was given until November 18 to comply with Take-Two’s demands but the company says the deadline came and went.
As a result, it was left with no choice but to file a lawsuit seeking “injunctive relief and damages that it will suffer as a result of Wyckoff’s direct and contributory copyright infringement under the Copyright Act of 1976”, breaches of Take-Two’s user agreement, and his “interference with Take-Two’s contracts with other Take-Two game players using his modifications.”
What happens next in the lawsuit remains to be seen but a post apparently made by Wyckoff a few hours ago suggests that his project is now “canceled”.
Take-Two’s complaint, obtained by TorrentFreak, can be found here (pdf)
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/rdr2long.png2571200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-28 15:57:572019-12-28 15:57:57Take-Two Files Copyright Suit to Kill Red Dead Redemption: Damned Enhancement Project
The website, which also allows users to download movies and books, stands accused of massive copyright infringement, including that relating to many Nintendo titles.
“The Website is among the most visited and notorious online hubs for pirated Nintendo video games. Through the Website, Defendants reproduce, distribute, monetize, and offer for download thousands of unauthorized copies of Nintendo’s video games,” the Japanese gaming giant wrote.
RomUniverse profited from these copyright infringements by offering premium accounts that allow users to download as many games as they want, Nintendo further alleged.
The site’s operator, California resident Matthew Storman, is not backing down, however. He decided to defend himself in court and responded to Nintendo’s claims last October through a detailed motion to dismiss.
Storman didn’t deny that he is involved in the operation of RomUniverse. However, he sees himself as a Service Provider, who is not part of the ‘forum’ itself. On the contrary, the admin argues that he’s protected by the DMCA’s safe harbor provisions.
In addition, RomUniverse’s operator said that Nintendo is not the owner of the files and therefore has no standing in this case. Citing the First Sale Doctrine, Storman argued that those who buy games have the right to sell, destroy, or give them away.
“The First Sale Doctrine permits non-copyright or trademark owner to dispose of their copies as they see fit. The Plaintiff does not own copies on websites,” Storman wrote.
Late last week Nintendo responded to the motion to dismiss, describing is as wholly inadequate. Storman’s arguments “completely miss the mark” and his “smattering of passing references to other legal arguments are similarly unavailing,” the company counters.
Nintendo points out that Storman’s affirmative defenses are not supposed to be pled in a motion to dismiss. Looking beyond this procedural issue, the game company notes that they would not work either.
Starting with the first sale doctrine defense, Nintendo points out that this doesn’t apply to mass copyright infringement. It only allows an owner of a lawful copy to dispose of an individual copy of a work.
“Mr. Storman is doing much more than simply distributing any copy of Nintendo’s copyrighted video games he many have,” Nintendo writes.
“Instead, he is reproducing the video games, creating derivative works, and distributing hundreds of thousands of those derivative works. The first sale doctrine does not permit such blatant infringement.”
The DMCA safe harbor defense doesn’t work for Storman either, Nintendo notes. While RomUniverse’s operator didn’t specify which of the four safe harbors he relies on, it appears to be the one related to storage providers.
This safe harbor doesn’t apply, Nintendo says, as Storman himself uploads, organizes, and catalogs infringing content. That alone is enough to lose safe harbor protections. In addition, the operator also receives a direct financial benefit that can be linked to the infringing material.
In the motion to dismiss, Storman highlighted that Nintendo sent him DMCA notices, which should confirm that he indeed has safe harbor protection. However, the game company counters that these notices are irrelevant. A service operator itself has to make sure that it ticks all the boxes when it comes to safe harbor eligibility.
All in all, it appears that by defending himself, Storman’s motion to dismiss is not as strong as he might have hoped. The matter is now in the hands of the court which, at the time of writing, has yet to rule on the matter.
Meanwhile, RomUniverse remains up and running and Storman continues to request financial support for his legal battle.
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A copy of Nintendo’s response to Storman’s motion to dismiss the complaint is available here (pdf).
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/mario-featured.jpg2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-28 05:57:042019-12-28 05:57:04Nintendo Counters RomUniverse Operator’s Defense in Piracy Case
China’s government is regularly accused of not doing enough to prevent piracy but court records show that there are many copyright cases under consideration.
A particularly interesting case that has now reached its conclusion featured Youku Tudou Inc., one of the country’s top online video platforms and Baidu Wangpan (Baidu Web Drive), a cloud-storage service operated by technology giant Baidu.
Filed by Youku, the lawsuit claimed that despite the company holding the rights to distribute the popular TV series ‘Eternal Love‘ online in China, copies of the show were being made available to the public after being uploaded to storage accounts on Baidu Wangpan. Youku says it sent numerous complaints to have the content removed but according to the company, the response was insufficient.
While Baidu did take some action, Youku was still able to find more than 11,000 Baidu Wangpan accounts offering episodes of the TV series for viewing without permission from the license holder, Caixin Global reports (paywall).
The lawsuit accused Baidu of not taking down infringing links quickly enough, failing to take action against the accounts of repeat infringers, and not installing technology to prevent the uploading, storage, and sharing of copyrighted material.
Baidu countered by stating that its users had uploaded the TV shows and as a result, the company should not be held liable for their actions. It further said that it had responded to Youku’s complaints and that Youku’s demand for 29 million yuan (US$4.14 million) in compensation was excessive.
Local reports cite the judge in the case weighing whether the response of Baidu was sufficient, noting that more than 60% of infringing links were indeed removed but other content remained online.
The balance was ultimately decided in favor of Youku, with the Beijing court ordering Baidu to compensate Youku to the tune of one million yuan (US$143,000) and 30,000 yuan ($4,300) in expenses.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/court2-featured.jpg00Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-27 19:55:532019-12-27 19:55:53Baidu Cloud Storage Site Ordered to Pay Damages For TV Show Piracy
Earlier this week we reported that Indonesia’s Information and Communications Ministry has continued its crackdown on pirate sites.
The Government body has blocked more than 1,000 domain names since July. Streaming giant ‘IndoXXI,’ which is listed among the 25 most visited sites in the country, was the main target.
The site has been blocked by ISPs in Indonesia before and also appeared on Hollywood’s radar. Despite the mounting pressure, it always managed to come back through new domain names.
That was also the case this time around. However, behind the scenes, the continued complaints must have made an impact on its operators as the site has announced that it will stop offering pirated movies in the new year.
“Very hard but must be done. Thanks to our entire loyal audience. From January 1, 2020, we will stop serving movies on this website in order to support and advance the country’s creative industry. Hopefully, the future will be better,” the translated message reads.
The announcement will be viewed as good news for the entertainment industry. However, as is usually the case when large sites shut down, there will be many others ready to take its place. Taking away one site doesn’t necessarily eliminate the demand from the public.
In any case, the surprise decision is big news in Indonesia. The ‘indoxxi’ hashtag was trending on Twitter earlier and the story has been picked up by several major news outlets, including CNN Indonesia.
https://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/worldfea.jpg2501200Dimitrologyhttps://dimitrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/WEBSITE-LOGO-2020-SMALL.pngDimitrology2019-12-27 09:54:522019-12-27 09:54:52Piracy Streaming Giant ‘IndoXXI’ Quits to Support the Local Creative Industry
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Earlier this week we reported that Indonesia’s Information and Communications Ministry has 
