Studios Sue U.S. IPTV Operator<\/h2>\n
In\u00a0a complaint<\/a>\u00a0filed at a Pennsylvania federal court in March, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Paramount, and other major Hollywood studios accused Weibley of widespread copyright infringement through various IPTV brands. The companies alleged that Weibley has a long history of illegally profiting from pirated content.<\/p>\n The operator\u2019s infringing activity dates back to 2017, when he allegedly registered the domain beastmodebuilds.com and began selling subscriptions to infringing streaming services. In the years that followed, the defendant was linked to various IPTV brands, such as Beast Mode Live, BTV, Viking Media, and GreenWing Media.<\/p>\n While the defendant made efforts to conceal his identity, investigators followed a digital trail that led to his personal email address.<\/p>\n The movie studios used this lead to confront Weibley in 2023, but instead of shutting down, he switched the operation to a different domain name, vonwik.com. Meanwhile, he continued to offer thousands of TV channels through the rebranded services \u2018Shrugs\u2019 and \u2018Zing\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWeibley now provides subscribers to the Current Infringing Services with access to more than 9,000 pirated channels, featuring Plaintiffs\u2019 television series and movies, as well as international content and live sports events. This is infringement of Plaintiffs\u2019 copyrighted works on a massive scale,\u201d the plaintiffs wrote in their complaint.<\/p>\n Weibley was served in person but filed no answer and failed to appear in court. As a result, the movie studios have now requested a default judgment and $9 million in damages.<\/p>\n In a motion submitted to the Pennsylvania court earlier this month, they note that, despite the lawsuit, the infringing IPTV services remain operational.<\/p>\n \u201cWeibley has known since at least 2023 that his services infringe Plaintiffs\u2019 copyrights, yet he continued to operate them. Indeed, even after being personally served with the Complaint and knowing about this action, Weibley continues to operate the Current Infringing Services,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n In an associated declaration, MPA Chief Content Protection Officer Larissa Knapp noted that the defendant is still believed to be in charge of the operation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The plaintiffs hope that a default judgment will change the status quo but if that\u2019s not sufficient, an injunction will help to take the IPTV services offline.<\/p>\n The movie studios request the maximum statutory damages of $150,000 per work for a small sample of 60 copyrighted works, totaling $9,000,000. This is the maximum statutory penalty for \u201cwillful\u201d infringement, which they argue applies to Weibley\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n According to the plaintiffs, the operator made the decision not to put up a defense. Therefore, the infringing activity was willful and punitive damages are appropriate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The rightsholders realize that the lack of response is an indication that the defendant might not be inclined to pay any damages. Therefore, they also request a permanent injunction to compel domain registrars and registries to sign over vonwik.com and related domains.<\/p>\n In addition, the proposed injunction compels all related hosting providers to stop serving the IPTV services.<\/p>\n \u201cPlaintiffs similarly seek an order directing the hosting providers of the Infringing Domains [\u2026] to suspend services to such domains and to prevent the content on the websites associated with the domains from being transferred to another domain name or hosting service,\u201d the studios write.<\/p>\n At the time of writing, the court has yet to sign off on the motion for default judgment. It will be up to U.S. District Judge Yvette Kane to review the arguments and decide whether the $9 million award and permanent injunction are warranted.<\/p>\n The current lawsuit is one of\u00a0two parallel cases<\/a>\u00a0filed by the ACE coalition back in March. The defendant in the other lawsuit, \u2018Outer Limits IPTV\u2019 operator Zachary DeBarr, also failed to formally answer the complaint. In August, a California federal court granted the studios\u2019 motion for default judgment, awarding them\u00a0$15 million<\/a>\u00a0in statutory damages.<\/p>\n \u2014<\/em><\/p>\n A copy of the memorandum in support of the motion for default judgment is available\u00a0here (pdf)<\/a>\u00a0and the proposed order can be found\u00a0here (pdf)<\/a>. Knapp\u2019s declaration is available\u00a0here (pdf)<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Source: \u00a0![\"shrugs](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/shrugs-zing.jpg.webp)
<\/picture><\/center> <\/p>\nDefendant Ghosts Lawsuit, IPTV Services Remain Online<\/h2>\n
![\"knapp-declaration\"](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/knapp-decla.png.webp)
<\/picture><\/center> <\/p>\nStudios Seek $9 Million and an Injunction<\/h2>\n
![\"proposed\"](\"https:\/\/torrentfreak.com\/images\/proposedorder.png.webp)
<\/picture><\/center> <\/p>\n![\"TorrentFreak\"](\"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/torrentfreak.png\")
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