ABS-CBN LogoA US federal court judge has signed a default judgment awarding ABS-CBN the advertising revenues illegally earned by 32 sites that pirated its content as well as ownership of the domain names of the sites—a landmark legal victory its antipiracy efforts in the US.
ABS-CBN is the first copyright holder to have been granted advertising revenues from pirate sites, according to Torrent Freak, a publication dedicated to bringing the latest news about copyright, privacy and everything related to file sharing.
The default judgment also awards ABS-CBN over a million dollars in statutory trademark infringement damages and orders several of the pirate sites to pay ABS-CBN copyright infringement damages.
It also requires associated registrars and registries to hand over the domain names to ABS-CBN.
The founder and editor in chief of Torrent Freak, known as Ernesto Van Der Sar, wrote: “This is the first time, to our knowledge, that a copyright holder has been granted advertising revenue from pirate sites in this manner.”
Van Der Sar added: “This could be a common legal tactic going forward because, generally speaking, it is very hard to get money from defaulting defendants who are relatively anonymous, or living in a foreign jurisdiction. By going after the advertisers, copyright holders have a good chance of securing some money, at least.”
Van Der Sar also praised ABS-CBN for the “massive impact” of its antipiracy efforts in the US.
ABS-CBN intensified and advanced its antipiracy efforts in the last three years under former ABS-CBN Global COO Raffy Lopez with the hiring of ABS-CBN AVP & head of Global Antipiracy Elisha Lawrence. (Story/Photos by: Kane Choa)