Wipe out of Pirated web sites

Heads-on Pirated Websites taken by ABS-CBN largest media and Entertainment Company in Philippines. ABS-CBN has come down harsh on pirated sites and filed Lawsuit against several unauthorized streaming sites at a District Court in Oregon as piracy is not accepted. Websites like Pinoy-tube.com, Pinoystreaming.com, Pinoytvko.biz and dozen other websites were charged with trademark and copyright infringement. Some of these web sites have no evident connection to the United States and are controlled by diverse / different people.

Online piracy is a term used to describe the illegal replication of copyright resources from the Internet. Pirated websites are a big menace to the various industries on World Wide Web i.e. internet. One of the worst affected industry due to piracy is entertainment industry, which frequently complain that they do not have any means to target pirate sites most importantly the one which are operated from overseas.

ABS-CBN requested for a temporary restraining order to stop the sites from working / functioning as quickly as possible. This was completed under seal without the prior knowledge of the defendants. As there was the possibility that Piracy website owners or defendants will be able to transfer the benefits of their prior illegal activities to new websites i.e. they will switch domain names and continue its operation as usual and entirely erase their status quo for legal proceedings.

The crux of it is, ABS-CBN appealed for power to take the sites offline before the owners of the pirated web sites knew that they were getting sued, and devoid of a chance to defend themselves. While that may appear as lot to ask for, Judge Anna Brown granted the request.

Against alleged pirate sites this month, it was not the first ex-parte injunction to be handed down. Similar thing happened in the Expendables 3 case, although this order was not nearly as extensive as the one against the Filipino streaming sites.

Another move to stop pirated websites from flourishing has come from London police. They have started to place banner advertisements on websites which are presenting pirated content illegally. This is a welcome move from London police in terms of continuing effort to bring to an end piracy sites practice to earn money through advertising. The messages / banner will ask users to close their web browsers and will appear instead of paid-for ads which are displayed on pirated websites.

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe from the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) said, “On illegal websites when advertisement from well known brands appear, they unintentionally fool customers into thinking the site is genuine, by lending pirated web site look of authenticity”. So when the banner will be placed on piracy web site it will be difficult for piracy site owners to make their pages look authentic.

To tackle IP crime and disrupt criminal profit, this new initiative is another step forward. Detective Chief Inspector Andy Fyfe from the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) says, disrupting advertising on these sites is very crucial and this is why it is an essential part of Operation Creative, as Copyright infringing websites aka piracy websites are making massive sums of money though advertisement placement.

UK Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) is continuing its attacks on piracy-related domains; it has shut down several torrent site proxies and the proxy service Immunicity.org. The Domains now display a banner warning that the police are investigating the matter and in addition domain names have been “detained” by the police.

In the UK, almost 50 different websites offering pirated content have been blocked by their internet service providers as per the courts order, either through peer-to-peer sharing or by direct download.

Whether it is the start of a new movement has yet to be seen, but considering the broad measures judges are willing to sign off, pirated web sites have lot to be scared of.

As per filings from the Motion Picture Association of American and the Recording Industry Association of America, below mentioned sites have been subjected to enforcement actions or they may warrant further investigation because of their Piracy content :