In August 2021 we inform you of uA new blow to pirate IPTV services where DISH Network sued Nitro TV for different copyright infringements for illegally offering paid content. And now we know that the operators behind this illegal service are facing a historic fine: 100 million dollars, about 91.80 million euros to change.
It all started in 2020, when a coalition of companies led by Universal, Disney, Amazon, Columbia and Paramount filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the pirated IPTV service Nitro TV.
This accusation pointed to a married couple (accused of creating the entire conglomerate to sell the services of their platform) in addition to a YouTuber who helped out by promoting Nitro TV on his channel.
100 million dollars for distributing content through a pirate IPTV
The first complaints, which included an accusation of destruction of evidence along with a second lawsuit from DISH Network, have been severe blows for this illegal platform. According to the DISH, Sling, and NagraStar plaintiffs, the defendants they received millions of dollars in exchange for subscriptions to their pirate service.
this demand did not accuse them of copyright infringement, but of violating the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA and violations of the Federal Communications Act (FCA).. Everything came from the unauthorized use of satellite signals and avoiding Slink’s DRM. What’s more, none of the defendants responded to the lawsuitso now the case is moving towards a resounding victory for the plaintiffs, while the defendants are considered in default.
$1,000 fine for each Nitro TV subscriber
Now, a new default motion in which DISH and its partners have laid out the reasons why they should be compensated points to a historic fine that could reach 100 million euros.
DISH claims to have evidence that Nitro TV illegally accessed its broadcasts to sell the signal to subscribers of this pirate IPTV. DISH says that the DMCA prohibits a person from circumventing a technological measure that controls access to a copyrighted work. And the fact that the defendants bypassed Sling’s DRM to broadcast their content illicitly has been ongoing and for profit.
DISH says that section 605(a) of the FCA allows them to recover statutory damages in the amount of $1,000 to $110,00 per violation, while section 605(e)(4) allows $10,000 to $100,000 per violation. every violation. Under the DMCA, each violation of section 1201(a)(1)(A) allows statutory damages ranging from $200 to $2,500.
To avoid getting your fingers caught and the court rejecting the casehave preferred that each non-compliance be fined by 1000 dollarsyes And considering that Nitro TV subscriptions exceeded 100,000 customers, the fine could be as high as $100 million. Yes, it could have been so much more.
“Account records provided to Plaintiffs show that Defendants sold at least 100,363 Device Codes. Therefore, statutory damages must be awarded in the amount of $100,363,000 (100,363x $1,000), jointly and severally against Defendants,” says the motion to default.
DISH makes it clear that the requested damages are much lower than the real ones, since the defendants also received subscription payments through Facebook Pay, Coinbase and Paymentech, but not being able to know how many subscriptions were made through these platforms, they have preferred not to take them into account.
But yeah They have been able to prove that Alejandro and Martha Galindo, sole administrators of Nitro TV, received more than 5.5 million dollars in two bank accounts. According to DISH, the lucrative goal of this pirated ITPV is demonstrated, citing the Hollywood lawsuit to demonstrate the defendants’ broader involvement in piracy of copyrighted content. In addition, this complaint does not include the costs of lawyers or the trial. Without a doubt, one of the biggest blows to pirate IPTV platforms is that more than one service thinks twice before continuing to offer content illegally.
