Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984
Netflix, Amazon, and Hollywood studios shut down maker of "free TV" box
The entertainment industry has scored a big victory over the maker of a "free TV" box that helped users watch pirated video.
Dragon Media Inc., whose "Dragon Box" device connects to TVs and lets users watch video without a cable TV or streaming service subscription, has agreed to shut down the Dragon Box services and pay $14.5 million in damages to plaintiffs from the entertainment industry.
Dragon Media was sued in January 2018 by Netflix, Amazon, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros. Dragon Media's lawyer initially predicted that the lawsuit would backfire on the entertainment industry, but the Dragon Box maker must have decided it had little chance of winning at trial.Netflix, Amazon, and major studios sue maker of "free TV" box"Free TV" box lawyer says video industry is "digging its own grave"
The plaintiffs and defendant filed a proposed settlement Monday at US District Court for the Central District of California.
The settlement requires Dragon Media to "cease all operation of the Dragon Box system" and related services within five days. Under the settlement, "[j]udgment shall be entered against Defendants and in favor of Plaintiffs on Plaintiffs' claims of copyright infringement, and damages shall be awarded to Plaintiffs in the amount of US $14,500,000," the document says.
Dragon Media, Dragon Media owner Paul Christoforo, and reseller Jeff Williams "[s]hall be further enjoined from operating any website, system, software, or service that is substantially similar to the Dragon Box service," the settlement says.
The settlement also prohibits the defendants from making its source code or other technology available to others.
[...] Dragon Media temporarily stopped sales after the lawsuit was filed last year but "later decided to change its business model, moving from a Kodi-addon platform subscription-based services," TorrentFreak wrote today. "First, it moved to 'BlendTV' and a few months later to 'My TV Hub.'"
However, the settlement requires Dragon Media to shut down both BlendTV and My TV Hub at the same time that it shuts down the Dragon Box service. The settlement defines the Dragon Box Service as "the hardware devices preloaded with copyright infringing software, addons, programs, applications, and all related services that Defendant marketed, promoted, sold, and supported." The settlement defines BlendTV as "the copyright-infringing software, programs, applications, and services that transmit or otherwise communicate television programs and motion pictures over the Internet that Defendant marketed, promoted, sold, and supported."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday February 04 2019, @03:59PM
1) Lawyers say shit to the media all the time that is not remotely true and this is legal. A smart lawyer does not mislead their clients as to what the law is or of expense and odds at trial.
2) Company makes promises that everyone knowledgeable knows are not possible to fulfill other than breaking civil law, company should not be surprised at being sued out of existence. (Advertise you're an assassin, don't be surprised to be stung.)
3) Saying "sorry our bad" usually doesn't remedy damages - someone may want payment.
4) Company acts in a manner of its fundamental business not being legal, company will have an extremely hard if not impossible time convincing others that it is now reformed. (Company started legal in the first place may not have been successful and crashed, too, though.) Maybe somebody will want the Dragon Box name someday, akin to Napster.
5) People believe a company making promises that are not possible to fulfill other than breaking the law should not be surprised when platform drops dead. Such people need to develop common sense.
6) If you're not already a streaming player with a well defined business model, do not be surprised that the big boys have already made it impossible for you to get meaningful revenue on an enterprise level, especially when you have most of an industry suing you.
7) Copyright law still exists. It still sucks. It is still the law.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday February 04 2019, @04:35PM (1 child)
MAFIAA is not close to stopping fully loaded Kodi or even the premium services [kodiapps.com] that some users integrate into fully loaded Kodi, but they can easily target low-hanging fruit like this company. It could create a barrier to entry where a certain amount of people will continue to use the legit/licensed streaming services, cable, etc. because they don't know any better. The end result could be a stalemate where they don't go as hard after the pirate competition as they could, people who want to stream illicitly continue to do so, and legit streaming services keep making revenue. That's how MAFIAA works.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:50PM
Kodi is cool software and runs on really low end hardware. Netflix and services like it, are in my opinion, about as good as we're going to get. Sure, I would love Legal free streaming movies. There are some, but typically they're really, really old black and white movies. Most black and white movies are likely not in the public domain, either. The reality is that, if you want a good movie. You have to pay someone to make it and they have to be able to make a living doing it. Sure, someone making $100 Million dollars on a movie, is somewhat obscene, but at that point they performed well enough, it was marketed well enough, etc. to make that much money. I don't begrudge them their millions earned. I also don't envy the constant prying into their private lives, paparazzi, etc. You want entertainment, at some point, someone's got to be paying for it. I much prefer a service like Netflix, where the customers are paying for it, and have a buffet style selection. Whereas with Cable/Satellite you have a lot more scripted service and have to pay a premium for buffet style service in the form of pay-per-view. Netflix is also a much, much better option than over-the-air, as you are the product. Since, you're not paying for it, other than watching the advertisements.
TL;DR
Don't Pirate, if you like Quality Entertainment. At least choose a side, Netflix / Amazon Prime. There are other options, but those are the two behemoths.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Redundant) by hemocyanin on Monday February 04 2019, @06:14PM (2 children)
Can someone please spell out what Dragon Media was? Could you really stream Netflix free or was it just an alternative player and you needed an account? I know I could search myself but I'm in the odd place of being just curious enough to be frustrated with TFS, and not interested enough to do the work myself.
(Score: 3, Informative) by krishnoid on Monday February 04 2019, @11:32PM
I can tell you who Paul Cristoforo [penny-arcade.com] was, does that help?
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:55PM
I highly doubt anyone can stream Netflix for free. That would be some Humongous security hole in Netflix's service. What is quite likely is that someone recorded xyz movie and hosted at randomsketchysite.com and the service linked all those together. Thus, free TV on a stick or whatever.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:25PM
some calculations the computer is not allowed to make, because the output stream of digital bits resembles a shinny disk. with heft, weight, a round shape and all. placing the calculation into the sunlight also reveals a rainbow pattern ...