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Bungie Wins $12 Million in Damages From VeterancheatsErnesto Van der Sar, 28 Apr 11:39 AM Over the past several years, a wave of copyright infringem

Bungie Wins $12 Million in Damages From Veterancheats Ernesto Van der Sar, 28 Apr 11:39 AM Over the past several years, a wave of copyright infringement lawsuits has targeted alleged cheaters and cheat makers. Several game companies including Take-Two Interactive and Epic Games have taken cheaters to court in the United States. More recently, American video game developer Bungie has been rather active as well. Bungie is known for the Halo and Destiny series, which have millions of fans around the world. The popularity of these games also attracts cheaters and cheat sellers so in an attempt to stop them, Bungie has filed several lawsuits in US federal courts. This strategy yielded some success last year when Elite Boss Tech accepted a loss by signing a consent judgment, agreeing to pay $13.5 million in copyright damages. The lawsuit against AimJunkies is another story, as that cheat seller is doing everything in its power to fight back. Bungie vs. Veterancheats Bungie's case against cheat seller Veterancheats went in yet another direction. After the lawsuit was filed in 2021, very little happened. The site's alleged operator, Romanian resident Mihai Claudiu-Florentin, didn't answer the complaint so Bungie was left to proceed on its own. Earlier this year, the lack of action prompted Bungie to request a default judgment for copyright infringement and the circumvention of Bungie's technological protection measures under the DMCA. To compensate for this wrongdoing, the game company requested more than $12 million in damages and fees. According to Bungie, Veterancheats sold several Destiny 2 cheats, including "Razor", "HLBOT", and "Render." These pieces of software allowed "unskilled" and "unethical" players to gain an unfair advantage, effectively ruining the fun for everyone else. "Cheat software negatively impacts the gaming experience of Bungie's community of honest players who enjoy playing and winning fairly using skill and developed through practice," Bungie wrote. Court Awards Millions in Damages This week, United States District Judge Tana Lin ruled on the motion, largely siding with Bungie. After concluding that the court has jurisdiction over the Romanian defendant, Judge Lin also agreed that a default judgment is warranted based on the evidence. The court notes that Veterancheats' violations of the DMCA were willful and that an award of up to $2,500 per download of the VeteranCheats Hack is justified. Since Bungie actually asked for less than that, the damages request was granted. "Bungie has asked for only $2,000 for each of the 5,848 downloads of the VeteranCheats Hack and the Court finds that this amount is appropriate. The Court will therefore enter default judgment in the amount of $11,696,000 for Claudiu-Florentin's violations of the DMCA," Judge Lin writes. For circumvention violations under the DMCA, each cheat software download goes towards the final damages amount, which can be susbstantial. The same isn't true for statutory copyright infringement damages, which are counted per copyright work, but in this case that was irrelevant. Instead, Bungie requested actual copyright infringement damages based on the cheat sellers' subscription revenue. The game company relied on data obtained from payment processor Stripe to calculate the final amount. "Bungie has provided sufficient evidence to support this request, including accounting information from Stripe, as well as Barker's declaration which explains the basis for the calculation. The Court therefore awards $146,662.28 in actual damages for the Copyright Act claim," the Judge adds. Finally, Judge Lin also granted more than $200k in attorneys' fees and costs, which puts the total default judgment amount at a sizable $12,059,912.98. Injunction Targets Domains, Reddit, Discord, and More In addition to the substantial damages award, Judge Lin also issued a permanent injunction that prohibits Veterancheats and Claudiu-Florentin from selling cheats for Bungie's games or engaging in any related copyright-infringing activities. Veterancheats is also prohibited from using other services to promote or sell the cheats. Those include Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Discord, GBATemp, Reddit, Telegram, Skype, WeChat, WhatsApp, Signal, and similar apps and services. "Claudiu-Florentin is prohibited from using any social network, video sharing, or digital messaging accounts under their control to provide any content relating to the distribution, marketing, offering for sale, or promotion of the Wallhax cheat software..," the order reads. Even more valuable, perhaps, is that third parties, including but not limited to domain name registrars or registries, are also prohibited from supporting these infringing and DMCA-violating activities. That means that the .com domain name of Veterancheats, which remains online at the time of writing, is at risk of being suspended if Bungie cheats are sold. Worldwide Finally, it's worth pointing out that the injunction isn't just limited to the United States. It can be enforced in every country of the world where the defendant or the cheating operation has connections. "This permanent injunction is binding against Claudiu-Florentin worldwide, without regard to the territorial scope of the specific intellectual property rights asserted in the Amended Complaint and may be enforced in any court of competent jurisdiction wherever Claudiu-Florentin or his assets may be found," the order reads. All in all, this is a significant win for Bungie on all fronts. The Veterancheats website remains online but that's not necessarily a problem in this case, as the cheat seller previously removed the Destiny 2 cheats from sale. — A copy of the default judgement and associated permanent injunction, issued by United States District Judge Tana Lin, is available here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Vietnam Could Kill Several Major Pirate Sites Worth Billions of Visits Andy Maxwell, 27 Apr 09:16 PM When the United States wanted Sweden to take action against The Pirate Bay, communication through diplomatic channels oiled the wheels, led to a raid, and was followed by handshakes all round. The Pirate Bay famously reappeared online but in that moment, collaboration between U.S. and Swedish authorities was set on a more harmonious course. At the time it was rumored that cooperation had prevented Sweden being placed on the USTR's Special 301 Report 'Watch List' but whatever the truth, that never happened. The same cannot be said of Vietnam. Five years ago the USTR warned that unless Vietnam took stronger enforcement action, not only would it remain on the Watch List, but online piracy was likely to get worse as broadband penetration increased. The prediction was solid. Vietnam Stays on the Watch List In 2018 there had been some promising signs. After the the US Ambassador to Vietnam called on the local government to criminally prosecute the people behind movie streaming sites 123movies, Putlocker and Kisscartoon, 123movies – also known as 123movieshub and GoMovies – suddenly shut down. A criminal investigation had toppled a site once described by the MPA as "the most popular illegal site in the world." Once again, enforcement in Vietnam suddenly seemed viable. When the USTR published its list of 'notorious markets' in 2019, Vietnam had other problems on its hands. Local piracy platform Phimmoi.net was pulling in 75 million monthly visits according to the USTR, and a site called FMovies was also making waves, although it wouldn't be officially associated with Vietnam for some time. In August 2019, right holders filed a criminal complaint against the operators of Phimmoi.net but a year later local authorities suspended their investigation for "unknown reasons." The site reportedly moved domain and went on to become one of the most popular sites in Vietnam. True Scale of the Problem Emerges The language barrier and lower levels of transparency hinder proactive reporting on events in Vietnam, but rightsholders in the United States have provided a steady flow of information and the USTR has reported accordingly. Fmovies, also known as Bmovies and Bflix, are three of the most recognizable pirate streaming brands for good reason. SimilarWeb data indicates that a single domain, fmovies.to, currently receives 92 million visits per month to its archive of mainstream movies and TV shows. One Bflix domain currently manages around 10 million, still significant numbers. Also believed to be operated out of Vietnam is BestBuyIPTV, a pirate IPTV service boasting 900,000 users and 12,000 resellers. Whether these figures are accurate is up for debate but for a premium service costing 15 euros per month, half the number of users sounds like $81 million in annual revenue. Cut that figure in half for good measure and it's still hugely significant. Vietnam May Be The World's Biggest Piracy Problem By 2022, the MPA was openly linking Fmovies and its sister sites to Vietnam. This January, the International Intellectual Property Alliance also linked Fembed to Vietnam, describing the platform as 'Piracy-as-a-Service.' Y2Mate, the world's most popular stream-ripping site, good for at least 120 million visits per month, was also linked to Vietnam. Then even more meat was put on the bones. "The operator of the notorious streaming piracy network of sites Fmovies has over 60 associated domains, many of which are known pirate brands such as Bmovies, 9anime, Putlocker, and Solarmovies, provides unauthorized access to popular movies and TV series, and is domiciled in Vietnam," the anti-piracy group wrote. As soon as 9anime enters the mix, the few hundred million visits per month mentioned thus far risk being overshadowed. We cannot confirm who is behind these domains but the numbers are staggering: 9animetv.to pulls in 197.3 million visits per month, 9anime.to receives over 97 million. In January, 9anime.gs received 95 million visits but in March, 'just' 35 million. There may be some doubling up or crossover traffic when multiple domains are in play but, for reference, 9anime.pl receives more than 37 million visits per month and with 'just' 18 million, 9anime.id seems hardly worth mentioning. And then there's zoro.to, which some suggest also has links to Vietnam. We're in no position to confirm that but the traffic it receives is certainly worth recording for posterity; in January 2023 alone the site received over 206 million visits. USTR Publishes Special 301 Report 2023 The publication of the USTR's 2023 Special 301 Report this week highlighted recent changes in Vietnamese law. "[A]mendments to the IP Code entered into force in January 2023, which include categorizing the illegal uploading and streaming of a cinematographic work as a violation of communication rights and clarifying that copying of part of a work will be considered as a reproduction," the report reads. Describing IP enforcement as a "serious challenge" the report references the stalled investigation into Phimmoi.net. It further notes that there are "no criminal investigations or prosecutions" in Vietnam, even though criminal law allows for "substantial fines and years of incarceration" for copyright infringement. "[O]nline piracy, including the use of illicit streaming devices and associated piracy applications to access unauthorized audiovisual content, remains a significant concern," the report adds. Yet despite all of the above, Vietnam was not upgraded to the Priority Watch List, despite rightsholder recommendations. The reasons for that could be political or maybe a grain of optimism remains. Perhaps a little bit of both. Whatever the truth, Vietnam seems to be riding its luck. No country in the history of online piracy has ever had so much power, refused to use it, and then reaped the benefits longer-term. A turnaround may still be possible but unlike the pirated movies, TV shows, anime and manga currently flooding the internet, patience isn't always in unlimited supply. The 2023 Special 301 Report can be found here (pdf) From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Pirate Streaming Giant Pobre.tv Was Bigger Than Netflix, Now It's Gone Ernesto Van der Sar, 27 Apr 12:21 PM Two years ago, the Motion Picture Association (MPA) reported the Portuguese streaming site MrPiracy to the U.S. Trade Representative. The Hollywood anti-piracy group described the site as a notorious pirate operation that should be dealt with accordingly. Whether this diplomatic lobbying effort had a direct effect is not clear, but MrPiracy.top shut down a few weeks later. Interestingly, however, it didn't take long for another site to step up and take its place. Pobre.tv Rises The successor was Pobre.tv, where Pobre is Portuguese for 'poor'. The site offered many thousands of movies and TV shows free of charge and quickly became the go-to entertainment portal for millions of people. This meteoric rise was in part facilitated by the old MrPiracy domains, which were redirected to Pobre without an official explanation. Perhaps the old behemoth willingly 'handed over' the reigns to this 'newcomer', or there might have been some kind of deal behind the scenes. In part due to these redirects, the popularity of Pobre.tv and Pobre.wtf in Portugal was massive from the get-go. Up until last month, it was ranked among the top 25 most visited sites in the country, beating the web traffic numbers of legitimate platforms such as Netflix, HBO, and Disney. Top Streaming / TV sites in Portugal Enforcement Efforts Begin PobreTV's status didn't go unnoticed by rightsholders. Over the last year, the MPA-led Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) tried its best to identify the operators through a series of DMCA subpoenas, targeted at Cloudflare. The first DMCA subpoena, through which Cloudflare was asked to share identifying information of the domain name's owner, was filed early last year, with another one following in November. Whether these legal requests resulted in usable intelligence is unknown but PobreTV did eventually move away from Cloudflare. Most recently, it was hosted at AlexHost but, over the past few days, it became completely unreachable. Pobre TV Vanishes When a site of this size disappears, people start looking for explanations. Thus far, however, the operators have yet to comment in public and they seem to have disappeared from the official Discord channel too. Pobre hasn't been mentioned officially in any recent enforcement waves either. In theory, it could have been (indirectly) caught up in a recent anime crackdown that also hit several other Portuguese language sites, but here's no concrete evidence for that. From what we can see, the domain names haven't been seized so it's possible that the operators decided to shut down voluntarily, perhaps after being pressured by enforcement actions. That could include the ongoing ACE actions, for example. ACE Kept the Pressure On ACE boss Jan van Voorn informs TorrentFreak that, as the largest illegal streaming site in Portugal, Pobre TV has been on the ACE radar for a while. This dates back to the DMCA subpoenas we mentioned earlier but there were more recent activities as well. "Over the recent weeks, ACE obtained several disclosure orders requesting intermediaries connected to the operation of Pobre TV to hand over their customer details," Van Voorn tells us. "Due to the confidential nature of these legal actions, we cannot disclose further details at this stage," he adds. The anti-piracy alliance doesn't mention which intermediaries were targeted. There are a few options, including the hosting company, domain registrar Namecheap, Discord, or any payment companies that were used to pay for these services. ACE comments suggest that it is not directly involved in Pobre's disappearance in the sense that it negotiated a settlement. However, it is possible that ACE managed to identify the operators, who then chose to abandon ship. Not Taken Lightly Across the web, there is plenty of speculation about what may have happened. Also, the news site Noticias e Tecnologia quotes a 'reliable' but anonymous source which states that the site is closed for good. No explanation is provided, however. What we do know is that decisions like this aren't taken lightly. Pobre was a highly successful streaming operation that, in addition to running ads, also monetized its service through premium subscriptions paid in Bitcoin. These subscriptions provided access to exclusive features such as Chromecast support and an Android app, and were selling for €24 per year. This must have been quite a lucrative revenue source that most pirate site operators would not give up easily. Whatever the reason for the shutdown, it can't be ruled out that the database and site assets will reappear one way or another. If that's the case, ACE will probably continue its enforcement efforts too. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. ©2023 TorrentFreak | Office 21338 PO Box 4336 Manchester, North West M61 0BW United Kingdom Web Version   Preferences   Forward   Unsubscribe     Powered by Mad Mimi®A GoDaddy® company