On April 1, 2019, the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted a motion for final judgment against Ferras Jim Pshehalouk, TVizion LLC, and 247 Smart Life, LLC. On April 2, 2020, the Court amended the final judgment to add NuMedia Global and NuMedia Global Hosting as judgment-debtors. Ferras and his companies were sued by DISH Network and NagraStar for federal claims arising out of their operation of illicit streaming services known as TVizion and NuMedia Global, whereby television programming originating from DISH’s satellite communications was retransmitted without authorization to users of the TVizion and NuMedia Global streaming services. The Court’s order includes a permanent injunction against Ferras and his companies as well as an award of $5,989,000 in statutory damages under the Federal Communications Act (“FCA”).

Have you received a USPS certified letter similar to the one shown in the picture? Here at NagraStar, we send all first letters certified for tracking and legal purposes. These letters contain sensitive information, and for that reason, NagraStar must ensure that the letter reaches its intended recipient. Many choose to deny signing for the letter, and thus it is returned. Commonly, certified mail is sent by lawfirms and government agencies, and refusing the letter could result in legal ramifications. If you receive such a letter, NagraStar highly recommends accepting it. If you choose to ignore these letters and emails from NagraStar, you could be referred to our law firm, HNB, for litigation. Do not ignore the letter, and please contact NagraStar as soon as possible to resolve this legal matter.

On November 19, 2020, the County Court for Palm Beach County, Florida entered an Order in favor of DISH Network and NagraStar against Jerry Storey in the amount of $4,800. Storey previously entered into a settlement agreement with DISH and NagraStar to pay $3,500 in damages based upon his purchase and use of IKS subscription codes to a pirate service. After Storey failed to make timely payments under the settlement agreement, DISH and NagraStar filed suit in state court for breach of settlement, seeking damages and attorneys’ fees. The Court’s Order requires Storey to pay the full $3,500 damages amount and also included an award of attorneys’ fees and litigation costs in the amount of $1,300. DISH and NagraStar will continue to enforce the terms of the settlement agreements they’ve reached with those responsible for trying to circumvent the companies’ security system in order to gain unauthorized access to DISH Network programming.

In September 2020, DISH Network and NagraStar sued piracy end-user Daniel Monge in the Tribunal Superior Court in Puerto Rico. Monge previously entered into a settlement agreement with DISH and NagraStar to pay $3,500 in damages based upon his purchase and use of IKS subscription codes to a pirate service. After Monge failed to make timely payments under the settlement agreement, DISH and NagraStar filed suit in state court for breach of settlement, seeking damages and attorneys’ fees. Through the litigation, Monge remitted payment for the full amount of the prior settlement agreement. DISH and NagraStar will continue to enforce the terms of the settlement agreements they’ve reached with those responsible for trying to circumvent the companies’ security system in order to gain unauthorized access to DISH Network programming.

One of the alleged key members of piracy group SPARKS has pleaded not guilty to US Government charges that he was involved in a conspiracy that cost movie companies tens of millions of dollars. Jonatan Correa, aka 'Raid', has been granted bail on a $75,000 bond with a number of conditions attached. On August 25, unofficial reports began to circulate that something big was underway in the top-tier piracy world known as The Scene. So-called topsites, the servers where masses of copyright-infringing content are stored, began shutting down globally as it became clear that law enforcement action was underway. Within hours, the US Department of Justice announced that three key members of the piracy groups known as SPARKS, GECKOS, DRONES and SPLiNTERS had been indicted, charged with a range of offenses connected to movie and TV show piracy.

More than a week has passed since a US Government enforcement action hit the piracy scene hard. The release group SPARKS was the main target but, directly and indirectly, many other pirate groups were affected as well. Now that the dust is settling, we take a look at how the actions impacted the flow of new releases. Every day, millions of people download or stream pirated content including movies, TV-shows, games, MP3s, and books. Many of these files originate from a small and tightly organized ‘community’ commonly known as The Scene, which is made up of dozens of smaller ‘release groups.’ These groups tend to operate in the shadows with little or no public profile. At least, that’s what the unwritten rules dictate. That’s for good reason as the people involved risk high prison sentences when caught.

Several members of the team behind pirate streaming app TVZion have been reportedly served with cease-and-desist notices by global anti-piracy coalition Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment. A partial copy of a letter seen by TF orders domains to be handed over but according to a source familiar with the situation, the app won't be shutting down. Over the past several years there has been an explosion of piracy apps that run on mobile devices, mostly on the Android platform. Most of the big-name piracy apps such as Popcorn Time have an Android variant and due to the relative ease of development offered by the OS, dozens of similar tools for viewing the latest content are available online.

Last week a massive law enforcement operation against members of The Scene unfolded, targeting release group SPARKS and their affiliates. In a brand new communication released this morning, a Scene entity reveals that the action took down dozens of sites across 14 countries. It further predicts that more is yet to come and that security needs to be addressed. Last Tuesday, exactly one week ago, unofficial reports began to surface that enforcement action was underway targeting groups and members of ‘The Scene’, the tight-knit entities that are often described as sitting at the top of the so-called ‘Piracy Pyramid’.

Internet provider Bright House Networks has countersued several major record labels, alleging that they sent false and deceptive piracy notices to its subscribers. This week, the company asked the court for permission to add the RIAA and its anti-piracy partner MarkMonitor to the suit, as they are central to the wrongful conduct. Last year, a group of major music companies sued Internet provider Bright House Networks, a subsidiary of Charter Communications. The lawsuit claimed that the ISPs failed to terminate repeat infringers. By keeping pirates as customers it violated the DMCA, the music companies alleged.

In April, a coalition of entertainment companies headed up by Universal, Paramount, Columbia, Disney and Amazon sued 'pirate IPTV provider Nitro TV for massive copyright infringement. After obtaining a court order to shut the service down, they now claim that the service continued to operate, with its alleged operator supposedly lying during discovery while destroying vital evidence. This April, companies owned by Columbia, Amazon, Disney, Paramount, Warner, and Universal, sued ‘pirate’ IPTV service Nitro TV. Filed in a California district court, the lawsuit accuses Alejandro Galindo, the supposed operator of Nitro TV, plus an additional 20 ‘Doe’ defendants, of massive copyright infringement.

Pirate IPTV service Area 51 disappeared offline late June with a message that its operators had decided to move on to other things. We can now reveal that the service was shut down by the Hollywood and Netflix-powered MPA and the global anti-piracy coalition Alliance For Creativity and Entertainment. Running in their own niche alongside traditional streaming portals and torrent sites, pirate IPTV services have, over the past several years, become the “next big thing” in online piracy. With relatively humble roots there are now seemingly hundreds of suppliers, some near the top of the tree with others simply rebranded versions of similar services. It’s reportedly a billion-dollar business in the United States alone but one service that recently stopped adding to that tally was Area 51.