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Jury Finds Pirate TV Box Sellers Guilty Under the Serious Crime ActAndy, 04 Feb 05:43 PM Those looking for a way to obtain otherwise premium subscri

Jury Finds Pirate TV Box Sellers Guilty Under the Serious Crime Act Andy, 04 Feb 05:43 PM Those looking for a way to obtain otherwise premium subscription TV packages at a cheap price will find that piracy-configured TV devices are easily available online. Equally, those who prefer to see the goods before buying them can often find them for sale at markets up and down the UK. Markets that develop a reputation for pirated and counterfeit goods can attract the attention of the authorities, including local councils. That was the case in July 2017 when Hertfordshire Trading Standards officers carried out a covert operation at Bovingdon Market. According to Hertfordshire Council, the officers carried out a filmed, undercover purchase from traders operating from a stand under the BlackBox.tv banner. The piracy-configured device was sold on the premise that it gave access to movies and sports without the buyer having to pay a subscription. The case took two-and-a-half years to go to trial but following a four-day hearing, two men – Thomas Tewelde and Mohamed Abdou, both from London – have now been found guilty of offenses under the Serious Crime Act 2007 and Fraud Act 2006. During the trial, jurors were shown the covert video recorded by Trading Standards and unanimously found that the men had intentionally encouraged buyers of the devices to obtain paid TV services dishonestly. Or, in Serious Crime Act terms, they "encouraged or assisted the commission of an offense." Furthermore, after tests carried out by Trading Standards reportedly revealed electrical safety issues with the supplied devices, the pair were found guilty of supplying devices that failed to comply with Electrical Equipment Safety Regulations. "We're keen to support the growth of the creative industries which is significant in Hertfordshire. The sale of these boxes, allowing free access to copyrighted material, puts this industry and Hertfordshire jobs at risk," commented Terry Hone, Cabinet Member for Community Safety. "People who are buying these boxes may not be aware that they too could be committing a serious act of fraud as well as the associated risk of buying a box, which may not have been subject to safety checks, as in this case. If the deal appears too good to be true it likely is." In a tweet welcoming the convictions, Andrew Butler, Head of Regulatory Services at Hertfordshire County Council, revealed that the Federation Against Copyright Theft had been involved in the prosecution of the men. FACT Chief Executive Kieron Sharp issued a warning to others considering the same line of business. "The message is very clear," Sharp said. "If you sell a device that provides access to content that is not licensed or owned by you, you will face a criminal conviction and we thank Hertfordshire Trading Standards for their work on this case." The two men will be sentenced on February 28, 2019, at St. Albans Crown Court. Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. We also have VPN reviews, discounts, offers and coupons. IPTV Supplier Omniverse Wants Hovsat to Pay its $50 Million Piracy Damages Bill Ernesto, 04 Feb 11:34 AM Last year, several major Hollywood studios filed a piracy lawsuit against Omniverse One World Television. Under the flag of anti-piracy group ACE, the companies accused Omniverse and its owner Jason DeMeo of supplying pirated streaming channels to various IPTV services. Omniverse offered live-streaming services to third-party distributors, such as Dragon Box and HDHomerun, which in turn offered live TV streaming packages to customers. According to ACE, the company was a pirate streaming TV supplier, offering these channels without permission from its members. The IPTV supplier initially denied the allegations and countered that it did everything by the book. The company pointed to a licensing deal it had with cable company Hovsat, which relied on a long-standing agreement with DirecTV to distribute TV content. As the case progressed, the Hovsat deal didn't turn out to be as solid as expected. After several IPTV providers distanced themselves from Omniverse, it threw in the towel. Last November the company agreed to a liability judgment of $50 million for the copyright infringements it caused. While Omniverse agreed to the monstrous judgment, it mostly blames Hovsat, as it made clear in a separate complaint that was filed against the company last summer. The IPTV supplier always believed that it was properly licensed and wants Hovsat to cover the multi-million piracy bill. As time went by it became apparent that Hovsat, a revoked New Jersey corporation, wasn't responding in court. The same is true for its alleged owner Shant Hovnanian. This lack of response has now prompted Omniverse to request a default judgment. In a new filing submitted at a federal court in California, Omniverse is demanding $50 million, the exact damages amount it agreed with the Hollywood studios last November. "HovSat is the party responsible for the copyright infringement alleged by the Plaintiffs by way of misrepresenting to Omniverse that HovSat actually received a license to distribute the copyrighted content through agreements with DirecTV," Omniverse writes. The defunct IPTV supplier accuses Hovsat of fraudulently claiming that it had a valid and lawful copyright license from DirecTV. This breach of contract made Omniverse liable for millions of dollars in damages. "Had HovSat not made the misrepresentations regarding acquiring the distribution licenses for the copyrighted content, and thus not breached their contract with Omniverse, Omniverse would have never been subject to the above-caption lawsuit raised by Plaintiffs. It logically follows that HovSat's misrepresentations thus proximately and directly caused the $50,000,000 in damages suffered by Omniverse," the filing adds. The court has yet to sign off on the default judgment. However, since Hovsat is not defending itself in court, there is a good chance that the IPTV supplier will indeed come out the winner. Whether it will ever recoup any of the potential damages from Hovsat is another question. — A copy of the proposed default judgment, which has yet to be signed off, is available here (pdf). Source: TF, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing, torrent sites and more. 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