Voltage Holdings has lost its appeal against a 2022 Canada Federal Court decision that denied default judgment against a number of unnamed internet subscribers. Voltage claimed that the internet users, who all received two prior infringement notices, shared the movie 'Revolt' on BitTorrent or authorized someone else with access to their internet connection to do so.
Voltage Holdings is one of many mostly American movie companies that have attempted to turn piracy into profit over the last 15 years. A lawsuit the company filed in Canada is broadly the same as others filed elsewhere but the same cannot be said about the outcome.
BackgroundIn 2017, piracy monitoring company Maverickeye collected IP addresses of BitTorrent users sharing the Voltage-owned sci-fi movie ‘Revolt’. Canada operates a so-called ‘notice-and-notice’ regime so Voltage identified the ISPs related to the IP addresses and warning notices were sent to the...
In April 2021, Jake Paul knocked out Ben Askren in less than two minutes. Shortly after on YouTube, the popular H3 Podcast declared the fight "a disaster" and showed a clip of the fight to back up their claims. After being sued by Triller for $50 million in copyright damages, H3 opted for a fair use defense. Now into its 124th week over a short clip of a fight that lasted 119 seconds, the lawsuit should be compulsory reading for YouTubers.
In our brave new world where millions of ordinary people are copyright holders of snaps they publish to social media or videos they upload to YouTube, awareness of copyright law is at an all-time high.
Evidence is easily found on Reddit, where users of /r/copyright and similar subs answer questions including: “Can I print t-shirts with Batman on the front if I only do a few and give them away?” and “Is it copyright if nobody knows I copied a song and changed it so it sounds nothing like the original?”
Similar gems are a regular occurrence on YouTube. W...
After years of lobbying activity and behind-the-scenes discussions, the Philippines is set to roll out its pirate site-blocking scheme this coming November. In a fresh memorandum of understanding, signed by the Government's Intellectual Property Office, Internet providers agree to voluntarily block sites that are deemed to be copyright infringing; no court order needed.
This month, the Philippines celebrates its creative industries by dedicating a special month to their work. On top of that, the Government presented a long-awaited ‘gift’.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) announced that local site-blocking plans are about to come to fruition. IPOPHL Director General Rowel Barba signed a memorandum that will go into effect in late November.
As part of the agreement, Internet providers will voluntarily block access to known pirate sites. These plans aren’t new; a similar memorandum of understanding...
Over the past month, the RIAA has sent dozens of takedown notices to Google, asking the company to remove problematic apps from its Android app store. The targeted apps advertise themselves as music download tools. This includes the popular "Video and Music Downloader" app that was downloaded more than five million times.
Google’s Play Store offers a vast library of millions of apps, in pretty much every category imaginable.
Most of the software is perfectly legitimate but there are some problematic apps too, including those that can be abused by pirates.
Over the years, rightsholders have reported many thousands of apps, often for copyright infringement. While some of these takedown notices are questionable, most pirate apps quietly disappear from the platform.
The RIAA is one of the entertainment industry outfits keeping an eye on Google Play. The anti-piracy group is known to...
The top legal advisor to Europe's highest court says that the retention and disclosure of suspected pirates' identifying information is compatible with EU privacy laws. Advocate General Szpunar's opinion is presented as a legal solution to a long-running legal complaint that accuses France of violating fundamental rights as part of its graduated response anti-piracy program.
Following the creation of its Hadopi anti-piracy agency over 13 years ago, France monitored and stored data on millions of users suspected of infringing copyrights.
The majority were BitTorrent users and the plan was to use evidence of their piracy activities as a basis for escalating actions including warnings, fines, and ultimately, internet disconnections.
Operating the program for a decade cost French taxpayers 82 million euros ($86.5 million) but according to digital rights group La Quadrature du Net, Hadopi’s “mass internet surveillance” destroyed citi...
Several authors including Paul Tremblay, Mona Awad and comedian Sarah Silverman have responded to OpenAI's request to dismiss several infringement copyright claims. The AI company cited fair use, among other things, but the plaintiffs note that this isn't the time and place to bring up this "urban legend".
Generative AI models such as ChatGPT have captured the imaginations of millions of people, offering a glimpse of what an AI-assisted future might look like.
The new technology also brings up novel copyright issues. For example, several rightsholders are worried that their work is being used to train and exploit AI without any form of compensation.
These concerns have triggered numerous AI-related lawsuits in the United States, many of which target OpenAI. Just a few days ago, the Author’s Guild and several prominent members including George RR Martin and John Grisham joi...
Two men who sold piracy-configured set-top boxes and provided access to pirate IPTV services have been sentenced at Belfast Crown Court. Following an investigation by police and subscription broadcaster Sky, the pair faced charges under several pieces of legislation including the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988, the Communications Act 2003, and the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Despite widespread publicity and overt campaigns warning of the criminal consequences, there’s still no shortage of people prepared to openly sell piracy-configured set-top boxes and pirate IPTV subscriptions.
In broad terms, awareness has improved over the last couple of years but, for those who got involved many years ago, historic perceptions may have been somewhat different. In the case of two men from Northern Ireland, an investigation by Sky and the police shouldn’t have come as a surprise but the fact that it took five years to reach its ultimate conclusion probabl...
As the world's largest pirate sites operate freely in Vietnam, the MPA has left no stone unturned in its quest for local cooperation. This week the Vietnamese government reported progress; 1,000 pirate sites blocked in the last 12 months. Most offered live football streams, so not exactly great news for Hollywood, but factors other than copyright may have played a role.
When Hollywood sets its sights on something it wants to achieve in the piracy landscape, victory may not come this week or even next year. The MPA has been around for 100 years; it definitely has patience to see out a few more.
In Vietnam, despite changes in the law and visits by high-ranking MPA and ACE representatives, patience will be required to reduce piracy. The world’s largest pirate sites seem to operate freely there and even when giants like Zoro.to and 9anime came under direct pressure from ACE recently, immediate respawning under new domains was hardly conducive to c...
Danish authorities have charged a man for reselling 500,000 hacked accounts obtained from a data leak, including user credentials for online streaming services. The 29-year-old faces a potential prison sentence. While piracy and hacking are no solution, a survey conducted by the major streaming services themselves shows that affordability is of key importance to most subscribers.
There is little doubt that video and music streaming services have taken the Internet by storm over the past decade.
An entire “on-demand” generation is growing up, with the streaming business model now generating billions of dollars in revenue.
Competing With PiracyThis growth was spurred on by piracy. When Netflix first launched its streaming services, the company openly positioned itself as a piracy competitor. And indeed, in the early years, many casual pirates were drawn to streaming platforms.
In recent years, this early selling point has been pushed into the...
After failing to take action following complaints from a new manga platform established in Russia by South Korea, manga piracy site ReManga will reportedly face legal action. With around 18 million visits each month, ReManga is certainly popular, but copyright lawsuits aren't the only threat. Rising state censorship means that illegal and legal platforms alike face potential ISP blocking.
Signed by some of Russia’s most powerful tech and entertainment companies in 2018, a Memorandum of Cooperation saw the creation of a centralized database of pirated content.
Internet companies agreed to query the database every few minutes and then remove corresponding content from their indexes. Those who benefited from the system declared it a success but not all types of content enjoyed protection. Book publishers and music companies were excluded from the memorandum and despite repeated calls for equivalent protection, they were left outside in the cold.
Early this ...