Football’s English Premier League and pay-television operator Fox Networks Group Latin America have claimed two significant wins in their ongoing efforts to fight piracy of their content.
In the first case, two suppliers of Kodi-type illegal devices have each been jailed for four and half years after being found guilty of conspiracy to defraud.
John Dodds and Jason Richards sold hundreds of devices that enabled their customers to view Premier League football via unauthorised access to UK pay-television broadcasters Sky Sports and BT Sport, as well as foreign channels.
The court in the English city of Newcastle heard how their criminal activity saw them fraudulently earn at least £1.5m (€1.69m/$2.08m) through the sale of the illegal devices and other equipment. This will now be subject to confiscation proceedings.
The pair were arrested following an investigation instigated by the Premier League, working in partnership with intellectual property protection organisation FACT.
FACT chief executive Kieron Sharp said: “This is no longer a grey area – selling devices like this or using one at home to watch content you normally would pay for is breaking the law. This sentencing should send out a very clear and strong message to anyone involved in the sale of these devices that it is very much illegal and that they risk spending time behind bars.”
The Premier League is currently engaged in a comprehensive copyright protection programme that has included obtaining a High Court Order that compels the UK’s Internet Service Providers to block illegal streams of its content, and led to a seller of illicit streaming devices based in Nottingham being jailed for four years.
The League’s activity in this area is not restricted to the UK and has included shutting down an illegal ISP in Spain and working with Thai authorities to bust a large-scale supply of illicit streaming devices across South East Asia.
Meanwhile, FNG Latin America has hailed a “unique ruling” in favour of the fight against piracy. A court in Uruguay has granted a precautionary measure through which the ISPs will have to block all websites named ‘Roja Directa,’ an illegal sports content rebroadcasting site.
FNG’s Fox Sports Latin America – owner of the exclusive broadcasting rights of sports content such as football’s Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana and Italian Serie A, as well as the Formula One motor-racing championship, had filed criminal charges against the site for copyright infringement.
“We’re on our way to end with the impunity of these illegal rebroadcasting sites,” Daniel Steinmetz, chief anti-piracy officer at FNG Latin America, said. “We have filed lawsuits in other Latin American countries where we’ll seek to replicate what we’ve obtained in Uruguay.”
According to a NetNames report, of the 222 million Internet users in South America, 110 million access pirate content.