LOS ANGELES – The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the dynamic legal ecosystem for creative content, today applauded a new federal court order requiring IPTV piracy service NitroTV to pay $51.6 million in damages to certain ACE members for “egregious” copyright infringement.
NitroTV was a collection of unlicensed web-based and application-based streaming platforms that, for $20 per month, offered subscription packages consisting of thousands of channels of unauthorized live events and unauthorized film and television titles to viewers in the United States and abroad. The service was spear-headed by defendant Alex Galindo and others.
In a Nov. 18 order, U.S. District Court Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong granted ACE members’ request for the maximum statutory damages amount of $51.6 million – or $150,000 per work for each of the 344 film and TV titles at issue – after finding that Galindo and other NitroTV defendants “willfully engaged in egregious copyright infringement.”
In light of the willful infringement, Judge Frimpong noted that NitroTV’s “very existence” “undermines and stunts the growth of the market” for ACE members’ “legitimate offerings” of film and television content.
Judge Frimpong continued by noting that NitroTV’s infringement compromised ACE members’ “business model, as well as the entertainment industry itself,” by undermining “copyright owners’ ability to control the distribution and use of their copyrighted works.” Judge Frimpong also recognized that NitroTV’s infringement “threatens ACE members’ relationships with their legitimate licenses and . . . digital distribution business; encourage[s] the growth of the illicit market for infringing content; and exposes [ACE members] to continued risk of piracy.”
The court also emphasized Gallindo’s repeated attempts to destroy evidence and flout court orders. In her June report and recommendation, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gail Standish advised Frimpong to find that Gallindo “willfully violated Court orders, and refused and failed to cooperate in discovery.” In her November judgement, Frimpong wrote that Gallindo “engaged in spoliation [of evidence] and blocked Plaintiffs from conducting meaningful discovery to determine the full scope of the Nitro Defendants’ infringement.”
“ACE applauds Judge Frimpong’s strong ruling against NitroTV, which underscores the direct and serious harm that piracy operations inflict on the legal marketplace and creative economy,” said Karyn Temple, Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel of the Motion Picture Association. “The MPA and ACE are committed to pursuing action, through courts or other legal authorities, against anyone who infringes upon our members’ rights.”
The lawsuit was filed by ACE members Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Amazon Content Services, LLC, Disney Enterprises, Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., Universal City Studios Productions LLLP, and Universal Content Productions LLC.
In their complaint, the ACE members noted that the channels available on NitroTV include many of the world’s most popular TV programs and movies such as The Office, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Toy Story 3, Star Trek Beyond, Homecoming and Joker. NitroTV’s “unlawful conduct … directly and willfully subverts that [legal] ecosystem through pursuit of illicit profits from massive and blatant infringement of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works,” ACE members wrote in their complaint.
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 40 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
John Mercurio
john_mercurio@motionpictures.org
