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Court Sentences Man for Selling Pirated Textbook PDFsErnesto Van der Sar, 10 May 11:04 AM Obtaining a proper education can give people a leg up in l

Court Sentences Man for Selling Pirated Textbook PDFs Ernesto Van der Sar, 10 May 11:04 AM Obtaining a proper education can give people a leg up in life, but this privilege does come at a price. Studying can be a costly endeavor, requiring expensive textbooks that may only be in use for a single semester. To reduce costs, some students choose to share books or buy cheaper second-hand versions. Textbook piracy is also widespread and in many cases considered socially acceptable among students. Last year, a Danish student survey found that nearly half of all students who use digital textbooks obtain copies through illegal means. Most students are well aware that selling and pirating books is against the law, but 68% still found it acceptable to share pirated books with friends or other students. Criminal Conviction Rights Alliance, a Danish anti-piracy group that represents rightsholders in several sectors, has had this issue on its radar for a few years now. Thus far, it has resulted in several criminal convictions of what, at first glance, seem rather small offenders. This month another case went before the court after a 25-year-old man was found guilty of selling PDFs of pirated textbooks to 12 people. The offender avoided a prison sentence, in part due to the lengthy proceeding, but was ordered to pay a fine of 5,000 Danish kroner (~$670) in compensation, while 2,450 kroner (~$360) were confiscated. The court concluded that the man sold 56 pirated copies in total, which he stored on a Microsoft OneDrive server. This wasn't a typical hardcore criminal operation, however, as the seller himself wasn't the source. He received the pirate books for his "social work" study from other students and decided to sell them to others online. While this type of activity is clearly illegal, the sentence also has an ironic twist. A quick calculation shows that the fine and confiscated money amount to less than $20 per pirated textbook, meaning that buying them legally would probably have been more expensive. Facing the Consequences Commenting on the recent verdict, Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund says the case highlights that relatively small acts of piracy can have real criminal consequences. "Thanks to an effective effort by the police, it was possible to stop the systematic sale before the consequences became too great. This case shows that systematic illegal sales are not reserved for an overwhelming profit. Just a few completed sales of illegal textbooks can have criminal consequences," Fredenslund notes. According to the anti-piracy group, most of the textbooks in the case originated from Nota, a Danish Library for people with print disabilities. Responding to this finding, Nota's acting director Michael Karvø stresses that it will continue to tighten its security to prevent piracy. "Nota takes the illegal sharing of Nota's materials very seriously and therefore has a continuous focus on the implementation of new security measures to prevent illegalities," Karvø says. Taking Responsibility? The educational book publishers association is pleased with the conviction. However, Secretary General Pia Vigh notes that educational institutions can and should do more to address the piracy problem. "When so many of the students share digital study books knowing that it is illegal, it shows a great need for the educational institutions to take more responsibility," Vigh comments. The association calls for a cultural change in the educational setting, where piracy should not be without consequences. Instead, it should be actively condemned, also by teachers. Whether this conviction or the others reported previously will have a serious impact remains doubtful. As the price of textbooks remain high, some students are still willing to take a calculated risk. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. DAZN Joins ACE: IPTV Piracy & Billions in Losses Challenge 'Netflix of Sport' Andy Maxwell, 09 May 08:14 PM With pirate IPTV services first seeping and then exploding into the mainstream around 2016/17, the launch of streaming service DAZN provided hope of a viable alternative. Initially made available in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Japan, DAZN's mission to provide affordable access to live and on-demand sports content was exactly what fans had been crying out for. Having grown tired of waiting, millions had already switched to pirate IPTV services but with a new approach, fresh-faced DAZN might even begin to win some back. We are basically saying pay-per-view sucks In December 2018, with Mexico's Canelo Álvarez set to take on Britain's Rocky Fielding the very next day, the Evening Standard interviewed DAZN's then-CEO, Simon Denyer. After securing an eight-year boxing rights deal worth $1 billion, the plan was to ditch expensive one-off payments for big events in favor of steady, $10-per-month subscription packages. "We are basically saying pay-per-view sucks," Denyer said. DAZN's marketing drilled that message home – and then some. Even those with a fundamental understanding of the boxing business could've predicted how this was likely to pan out. The world's best fighters live for big paydays, specifically the multi-multi-multi million dollar kind that are typically sustained by a solid PPV model. So, after onboarding subscribers on a PPV-sucks basis, DAZN told its customers that big fights would be available on the DAZN platform, on a PPV basis. With other market forces already biting hard, DAZN followed up with a recent announcement heralding huge price increases for its regular subscription packages. In the wake of almost doubling standard subscription rates in the United States and other key markets, DAZN will have to work hard to win new subscribers. Retaining the 20 million customers it already has will be a challenge too, but one that can be made easier by eliminating cheaper competitors operating in the same market. DAZN Joins Rivals to Fight Piracy Having lost more than $6 billion since launch in 2016, with an operational loss of $1.3 billion in 2021 alone, DAZN's affordable content strategy appears to have issues. In 2021 it acquired soccer match rights in Italy and Germany, but since they are incredibly expensive, that meant doubling the price of subscriptions in those countries. In a move to ensure that customers have no cheaper options, this week global anti-piracy coalition Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment announced that DAZN had become its latest member. Along with dozens of other corporations facing similar issues, DAZN will help to disrupt pirate streaming services all over the world. "Intellectual property theft of live sports content is an industry issue, negatively impacting all sports and sports fans, and it needs a global concerted effort to meaningfully tackle it. ACE is the natural home for the Sports Piracy Task Force, given their track record, reputation, and experience in delivering effective programs of action," says Shay Segev, DAZN Group CEO. ACE Sports Piracy Task Force Launched this week, the ACE Sports Piracy Task Force currently consists of beIN Media Group and DAZN, but the plan longer term is to bring other sports rightsholders on board to tackle what is increasingly viewed as a global threat. "With every new member, our global network becomes more powerful and more effective at targeting and shutting down the piracy operators that threaten the media, entertainment and live sports economy and consumers," says Jan van Voorn, Head of ACE and Executive Vice President and Chief of Global Content Protection at the MPA. DAZN Chief Operations Officer Ed McCarthy describes the move as good for broadcasters and fans alike. "Working with ACE, beIN, and other broadcasters and rights holders, the task force will pursue the criminal operators who are damaging sport at all levels, often using fans' credit cards and data [for] illegal purposes. DAZN stands with ACE in the fight to eradicate the global theft of content," McCarthy says. Sports Rights Cost Billions For perspective on what helps to drive up subscription prices and provide oxygen to illegal IPTV providers, the cost of broadcasting licenses is informative. In 2021, DAZN won the rights to screen live Serie A soccer matches in Italy for three seasons. That deal will cost the company $2.7 billion. In the same year, DAZN and Movistar won the rights to broadcast Spanish soccer matches for five seasons. According to LaLiga, that deal is worth 4.9 billion euros ($5.37 billion). A deal in the UK to screen Premier League matches is split unevenly between Sky, BT and Amazon. It covers just two seasons (2023/24 and 2024/25) and is believed to be worth in the region of £5.1 billion ($6.4 billion). DAZN chief executive Shay Segev recently told The Times that obtaining Premier League rights is a priority for the company. Counterintuitively, a successful bid could also fuel piracy. UK football fans currently need to subscribe to three streaming services to watch all available matches. DAZN getting in on the action raises the prospect of UK fans having to subscribe to four platforms to watch all televised matches. Or maybe even five, if Apple decides to get involved. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more. Bungie Wins $6.7 Million in Damages From LaviCheats Ernesto Van der Sar, 09 May 01:17 PM Over the past several years, major videogame companies have taken cheat developers, sellers, and resellers to court in the United States. In 2021, American videogame company Bungie upped its game with lawsuits against three major players; Elite Tech Boss, LaviCheats & VeteranCheats. Bungie's legal campaign is beginning to pay off. Last summer, the case against Elite Tech Boss resulted in a consent judgment where a key defendant agreed to pay $13.5 million in damages. This was followed by a $12 Million default judgment last month against Veterancheats. The case against cheat reseller LaviCheats reached its conclusion at a Washington federal court this week. Like the cases against the other cheat operations, this lawsuit wasn't fully litigated. Lavicheats Doesn't Show Up in Court Earlier this year, Bungie filed a motion for default judgment against LaviCheats. The game company asked the court to rule on the matter without hearing the defendant, as they apparently have no interest in making a court appearance. Bungie believes that the cheat seller is operated by India-resident Kunal Bansal, AKA "Lavi". No known address exists for this person so to alert Bansal to the legal proceeding, Bungie sent an email and posted a message in the LaviCheats forums. These unusual serving options were authorized by the court and achieved the desired result. Although there was no response from the defendant in court, Destiny 2 cheats were removed from the LaviCheats website. $6.7 Million Default Judgment In the absence of a proper defense, United States District Judge Tana Lin assumed that Bungie's copyright infringement claims were true. The same also applies to the financial damages reported by the video game company. This week, Judge Lin ruled on the motion for default. After concluding that the court has jurisdiction over the foreign defendant and that a default judgment is appropriate, she awarded more than $6.7 million in compensation. The bulk of the award is made up of statutory damages for 'willful' violations of the DMCA. This applies to the cheat's circumvention of Bungie's technological protection measures. With 2,790 downloads of "Bansal Cheats" and $2,000 in statutory damages per download, this amounts to over $5.5 million. This is a reasonable figure, according to the court, which notes that the maximum damages per download would be higher. "Based on the allegations in the Complaint and the evidence provided, the Court is satisfied that Bansal's violations of the DMCA were willful and that an award of up to $2,500 per download of the Bansal Cheats is 'just'. "Bungie has asked for only $2,000 for each of the 2,790 downloads of the Bansal Cheats and the Court finds that this amount is appropriate," Judge Lin adds. Copyright and Trademark Infringement Bungie allegations also included copyright infringement claims. These damages are not determined by the number of downloads of the cheat software, but by the number of copyrights at stake – two in this case – for which the court granted the $150,000 statutory maximum per infringement. "Given the adequate allegations of Bansal's willful copyright infringement, the Court finds that the maximum statutory award is appropriate and awards $300,000 in statutory damages," Judge Lin writes. For the trademark violations, Bungie requested damages based on the defendant's actual profits – between $45,987.58 and $579,270 according to estimates, with the court opting for the higher number. "The Court accepts as true that Bansal earned the higher amount—given that the allegations in the complaint are accepted as true—and the Court awards $579,270 in damages for the Trademark claims." Success!? There's no denying that the outcome of this case is a clear win for the Bungie. In addition to the damages awards and additional fees, the order also comes with an injunction requiring Bansal and LaviCheats to stop offering Bungie cheats. As mentioned earlier, the service has already stopped selling Destiny 2 cheats, so that's another clearly positive result. Whether Bungie will be able to recoup any of the damages awarded is questionable, however. The whereabouts of LaviCheats' operator is unknown and, given his lack of response in the lawsuit, the Indian defendant is unlikely to pay up without external pressure. — A copy of the default judgment issued by United States District Judge Tana Lin is available here (pdf) 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