Authors Seek Meta’s Torrent Client Logs and Seeding Data in AI Piracy Probe
Meta is among a long list of companies being sued for allegedly using pirated material to train its AI models. Meta has never denied using copyrighted works but stressed that it would rely on a fair use defense. However, with rightsholders in one case asking for torrent client data and 'seeding lists' for millions of books allegedly shared in public, the case now takes a geeky turn. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-21 01:57:02 READMORE
Man Jailed For Pirate IPTV Used By “Hundreds of Thousands” Had 2,000 Users
A man who ran an IPTV piracy operation from his home in Birmingham, UK, has been sentenced to two years and nine months in prison for fraud offenses. The case is a rare example of a seller sourcing their own content but may have been slightly overhyped. Following raids in 2021, "hundreds of thousands" were said to use the service, a figure quietly rounded down to just 2,000. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-20 16:09:38 READMORE
Top 10 Most Pirated Movies of The Week – 01/20/2025
Every week we take a close look at the most pirated movies on torrent sites. What are pirates downloading? 'Kraven The Hunter' tops the chart, followed by 'Gladiator II'. 'Venom: The Last Dance' completes the top three. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-20 07:09:40 READMORE
‘Piracy Shield’ Fails to Convert Pirates to Paying Subscribers, Data Suggest
Despite blocking thousands of illegal streaming sites, Italy's 'Piracy Shield' anti-piracy program has failed to deliver increased viewership for legal services like DAZN. This revelation appears in data provided by telecoms regulator AGCOM, which oversees the blocking regime. It adds fuel to the already heated discussions, which divide stakeholders and copyright representatives. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-19 22:38:18 READMORE
MAME Devs Spent 628 Years Cracking Protection on 712 Retro Games
Those capable of quickly bypassing video game copy protection are revered by impatient pirate players. On average, games protected by anti-tamper tech Denuvo enjoy 68 days crack-free before succumbing to piracy. Yet new research focused on MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) and video game preservation, reveals that a sample of 712 protected games, released as far back as 1979, took an average of 10.6 months each to crack. Total cracking time: 628 years. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-18 21:12:33 READMORE
Telefónica & LaLiga’s Anti-Piracy Collaboration Runs in Both Directions
In 2024, legal action taken by Spain's top-tier football league led to telecoms giant Telefonica disclosing the identities of alleged pirates among its own subscribers. Telefonica's cooperation was to be expected, as it just obtained the rights to broadcast LaLiga matches for 1.2 billion euros. In contrast, details of an anti-piracy agreement between the two companies, one that seems to operate in the opposite direction, wasn't expected at all. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-18 03:59:16 READMORE
Court Orders Pirate Site MissAV to Pay $4.5m in Damages, Domains Seized
This week, several domain names of the Japanese adult pirate website MissAV were redirected to seizure banners. The legal basis for these confiscations wasn't initially clear, but new information ties the action to a U.S. court order. In addition to losing their domain names, the MissAV defendants must pay $4.5 million in damages. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-17 18:52:03 READMORE
Poppy Playtime Sues Google for Failing to Remove Copyright Infringing ‘Scam’ Apps
Poppy Playtime is a massively popular horror game released by the indie studio Mob Entertainment. The game is available across various platforms, including the Google Play Store, where copyright-infringing versions are also available. Despite several complaints, Google allegedly failed to remove these unauthorized apps, which prompted the game developers to take legal action. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-16 21:05:15 READMORE
Telegram Shuts Down Z-Library & Anna’s Archive Channels Over Copyright Infringement
Telegram is one of the most popular messaging tools, chosen by many online services to stay connected with their audiences. Major shadow libraries Z-Library and Anna's Archive used Telegram until this week, when both accounts were terminated for copyright infringement. While these websites offer infringing content, both were cautious to avoid copyright troubles on Telegram. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-16 02:17:51 READMORE
3,682 Pirate Sites Blocked to Protect Creators; More Importantly, Did it Work?
With considerable encouragement from Hollywood and affiliated anti-piracy groups, in 2021 the Malaysian government stepped up its site blocking measures. An official statement published this week reveals that between 2021 and November 2024, a total of 3,682 pirate sites were blocked to prevent exploitation of local content. Interesting, perhaps, but after 15 years of effort, did site-blocking actually work and, if so, who benefited, and how? From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-15 17:10:50 READMORE
‘Notorious’ Pirate IPTV Service MagisTV Applies for US Trademark and Rebrands
In its annual report published last week, the U.S. Government listed MagisTV as one of the most notorious piracy services. The mention comes after the IPTV provider, which is mainly popular in Latin America, boldly applied for a U.S. trademark. This trademark is unlikely to be granted without protest, but that doesn't seem to be a major issue; the service has already rebranded itself as FlujoTV. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-14 20:00:03 READMORE
ISP Huffs and Puffs Then Apologizes to 3 Little Piggies Over Pirate Downloads
Making use of free Wi-Fi offered by pubs, bars, cafés, and other businesses, is now an everyday event for millions of people. For the owner of the 3 Little Piggies café in Cork, Ireland, providing free Wi-Fi led to an allegation of music piracy from his ISP and advance notice of potential disconnection. What followed was an extremely rare apology, for reasons deserving of a much closer look. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-14 02:33:13 READMORE
MissAV: One of the World’s Largest ‘Pirate’ Sites Targeted in Takedown Effort
With billions of annual visits, MissAV ranks among the 60 most-visited websites on the internet. The porn site mostly caters to an Asian audience where rightsholders see the 'pirate' site as a major threat to their business. Through a legal procedure, adult entertainment company FANZA 'confiscated' the MissAV.com domain, as well as ThisAV.com. However, MissAV swiftly bounced back on a new domain. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-13 18:54:44 READMORE
Nhentai Asks California Court to Dismiss Piracy Lawsuit
Nhentai.net, a popular adult site with dozens of millions of monthly visits, has asked a California federal court to dismiss a piracy lawsuit filed last year by publisher PCR Distributing. Among other things, the site argues that PCR lack sufficient ownership of the copyrights in question and has previously granted permission for the use of the content. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-13 06:38:01 READMORE
Tonga! Tonga! Tonga! Online Piracy’s Unusual Attraction to ccTLD .to
In terms of popularity and daily usage, the mighty gTLD .com and the lesser-known ccTLD .to sit in stark contrast. DomainTools currently reports over 154 million registered .com domains, 129,000 of those registered in the last day alone. Total number of registered .to domains is just 26,000, available from a website that has barely changed in over 25 years. So if we rule out an appreciation of 1997 web design, what fuels pirate sites' enduring love affair with .to? From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-12 03:22:22 READMORE
‘Strike 3’ Filed a Record Number of Piracy Lawsuits in 2024
Adult entertainment company Strike 3 Holdings is once again the most prolific copyright litigant in the United States. The company tracks down individual pirates and holds them responsible via copyright infringement lawsuits. The company is linked to over 3,900 lawsuits filed in 2024 alone, breaking its own record once again. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-10 19:59:35 READMORE
DoodStream Can’t Comply With Court Orders, Major Investor is a Russian Dude
According to the MPA, in 2023 video hosting platform DoodStream received 2.69 billion visits, largely driven by pirated content. So when the High Court of Delhi gave the site's operators 24 hours to end infringement in March 2024, that looked promising. Yet the site remains online, despite subsequent High Court orders. According to site's Indian operators, it is not possible to comply with High Court orders because a major DoodStream investor comes from Russia. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-10 02:37:31 READMORE
EFF Sides with Cox to Protect Piracy-Accused Internet Users from ‘Copyright Trolls’
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has got involved in a lawsuit between several movie companies and ISP Cox, who disagree over the use of DMCA subpoenas to identify alleged pirates. The EFF argues this could be abused by "copyright trolls" to target innocent users. They urge the court to require a full lawsuit with judicial oversight. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-09 22:22:02 READMORE
U.S. Trade Representative Lists the Most Notorious Piracy Threats
The Office of the United States Trade Representative has published its annual list of problematic piracy websites and other "notorious markets." This year's overview includes the usual suspects operating in the torrent and streaming sectors, as well as some intermediaries, including various hosting companies. The USTR hopes that by highlighting the threats, platform operators or foreign authorities will take action. From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Posted On:2025-01-09 05:50:45 READMORE