LOS ANGELES – The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading anti-piracy coalition, worked closely with the country of Georgia’s Ministry of Finance to shut down two of the nation’s largest illegal streaming sites, adjaranet.com and imovies.cc.
Over the past two years, adjaranet.com has amassed 140 million visits. During the same period, imovies.cc has attracted nearly 64 million visits.
Both sites were among the most widely viewed in the country, often ranking in the overall top 10 most visited sites.
The action follows extended collaboration between ACE, the Georgian government, the National Communications Commission, the Investigation Service of the Ministry of Finance and Sakpatenti (The National Intellectual Property Center of Georgia).
“The global fight against piracy is a team effort, and this case underscores the immeasurable value of ACE’s collaboration with government agencies worldwide,” said Jan van Voorn, Executive Vice President and Global Content Protection Chief of the Motion Picture Association and Head of ACE. “ACE appreciates the hard work of the Georgian Ministry of Finance and the Anti-Piracy Center of Georgia in the successful closure of these two criminal operations that undermine jobs and growth throughout the Georgian creative sector. Our partnership with Cavea Plus, a key member of ACE in the Caucasus region, has helped ensure a coordinated approach to protecting copyright.”
“I’d like to thank ACE for defending the intellectual property rights of content owners throughout Eastern Europe and beyond,” said Zurab Bezhashvili, Executive Director of the Anti-Piracy Center of Georgia. “Over the years, AdjaraNet and imovies were motivated by commercial financial gain. They hindered the success of many Georgian films, limiting the Georgian film sector’s potential growth and its job market. ACE and the Anti-Piracy Center share a common mission to fight digital piracy. Together, we have achieved an important milestone and showed the world that a joint effort truly makes a difference.”
Bezhashvili confirmed that the two websites are completely offline.
ACE members, including Cavea Plus, were impacted by the piracy sites.
About The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal market and reducing digital piracy. Driven by a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy through criminal referrals, civil litigation and cease-and-desist operations, ACE has achieved many successful global enforcement actions against illegal streaming services and sources of unauthorized content and their operators. Drawing upon the collective expertise and resources of more than 50 media and entertainment companies around the world and reinforced by the content protection operations of the Motion Picture Association, ACE protects the creativity and innovation that drive the global growth of core copyright and entertainment industries. The current governing board members for ACE are Amazon, Apple TV+, NBCUniversal, Netflix Studios LLC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and Warner Bros. Charles Rivkin is Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and Chairman of ACE. For more information, please visit www.alliance4creativity.com.
Media Contact
Pamela Corante
pamela_corante@motionpictures.org
