Six Alleged Piracy Sites Shuttered After MPAA Files Lawsuit (Deadline)
A lawsuit filed last month by the MPPA and the major Hollywood studios against operators of an alleged ring of piracy sites has been unsealed, showing that those sites have been shut down by a judge’s order.
Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Columbia, Universal, Disney, Paramount and Viacom are listed as plaintiffs in the suit filed February 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The defendants were the operators of “PubFilm/PidTV,” which the suit called “a ring of six interconnected large-scale piracy sites.” It called for the defendants to immediately cease and desist all use of Plaintiffs’ copyrighted works and trademarks and directing domain registries associated with the sites to disable them.
Judge Victor Marrero issued a TRO halting the sites on February 7, and a preliminary injunction was issued February 17 based on the allegations. The suit says PubFilm/PidTV saw more than 8 million visits each month, 40% of which were linked to U.S. IP addresses. It said it believed the defendants were operating out of Vietnam.