$25.5m DISH Copyright Infringement Case

The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has confirmed the filing of a complaint in the Eastern District of New York against ten defendants operating the Glo TV service, as well as Massive Wireless, Inc, a New York retailer, its CEO and director, and Rays IPTV LLC, a California distributor and retailer, and its CEO. The lawsuit was coordinated by IBCAP and filed by IBCAP member DISH Network.

The complaint asserts that the illegal provision of copyrighted IBCAP member content through the infringing service Glo TV directly infringes IBCAP member copyrights by transmitting 20 television channels and the programmes that air on those channels over the Internet to users in the US. The complaint also asserts claims against the remaining defendants for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. The defendants received multiple notices of infringement from IBCAP, yet ignored those notices and continued to infringe.

The complaint seeks:

·Statutory damages of up to $150,000 (€137,600) per work for the wilful infringement of 170 registered works – up to $25,500,000 total

·An award of the defendants’ profits attributable to the infringement of the unregistered works

·An injunction prohibiting the defendants from distributing, providing, promoting, or selling set-top boxes and services that contain the subject channels

·An injunction prohibiting the defendants from distributing, providing, promoting, or selling set-top boxes and services that contain the relevant channels listed in the lawsuit

·An injunction prohibiting any hosting company from supporting Glo TV or any other service used to access channels exclusively licensed to the rightsholder

·An order permanently transferring each domain name that the defendants used in connection with the infringement to the plaintiff

·Prejudgment interest and post judgment interest

·Reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs

“This IBCAP-coordinated lawsuit sends a direct message to the entire business chain involved in piracy. From those who operate pirate services, to the distributors who wholesale pirate subscriptions, to the retailers who purchase and resell pirate subscriptions to consumers, the sale of pirate services will not be tolerated,” said Chris Kuelling, executive director of IBCAP. “As with other cases coordinated by IBCAP, we fully expect these defendants will be held accountable, and the Court will enjoin retailers, wholesalers, and others from supporting the Glo TV service.”