Legal Cases

IBCAP Members’ Lawsuits Against IPTV Services

IBCAP members actively protect their copyrights by taking legal action including lawsuits against unauthorized IPTV services and retailers selling those services. These legal actions have resulted in large monetary awards and court orders requiring unauthorized IPTV providers and their retailers and internet providers to cease promoting, selling, distributing, or supporting IPTV services found to infringe copyrights. Retailers, ISP’s, CDN’s, and domain name providers must comply with court orders resulting in removal of popular channels and in some cases full shutdown of the service.

TVpad / Bhalla

• In 2016 the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued permanent injunction halting the unlawful distribution of television content on TVpad devices
• Court ordered manufacturers and distributors of TVpad to pay $55 million in damages
• Court granted motion against reseller, Mr. Bhalla, who must pay plaintiffs $4.4 million for copyright and trademark infringement

• • TVpad – 107 – Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction – newTVpad and Liangzhong Zhou.pdf
  • TVpad – 175 – Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction – Hugo Chen.pdf
  • TVpad – 182 – Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction – Bennett Wong and Club TVpad.pdf
  • TVpad – 198 – Amended Order – Final Judgment.pdf
  • TVpad – 207 – Default Judgment and Injunction Against Asha Media Group.pdf
  • TVpad – 222 – Order Granting Mtn to Hold 3rd Parties in Contempt.pdf
  • Bhalla – 072 – Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction (with exhibits A and B).pdf
  • Bhalla – 073 – Memorandum and Order Awarding 4.4M to Plaintiffs – no discharge.pdf

h.TV

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in the Eastern District of New York in June 2018
• Obtained judgment for $46 million and injunction
• Service down

• • HTV – 080 – Report and Recommendation for Final Judgment.pdf
  • HTV – 081 – Order Adopting Report and Recommendations [80].pdf
  • HTV – 086 – Amended Order.pdf

Shava

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in the Federal Court in Virginia in June 2015
• Obtained $25 million judgement and injunction against individuals responsible for Shava and Cres pirate services; both residing in Canada
• In August 2018 Ontario court recognized U.S. judgment and reiterated the monetary award and injunction against the defendants

• • Shava – 102 – Permanent Injunction Against Nadeem and Shava IPTV Network.pdf
  • Shava – 120 – Report and Recommendation Granting Motion for Default Judgment Against Imran and Naeem.pdf
  • Shava – 124 – Judgment Order.pdf
  • Shava – 136 – Report & Recommendation Granting Order for Contempt.pdf
  • Shava – 138 – Order Granting Motion for Contempt.pdf
  • Shava – 148 – Amended Order re Motion for Contempt [additional domains].pdf
  • Shava – Canada – Order Recognizing US Judgment.pdf

Crown TV

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in the Eastern District of New York in June 2017
• Obtained judgement for $8.25 million and injunction
• Service no longer operating

• • Crown – 039 – Report and Recommendation.pdf
  • Crown – 043 – Memorandum and Order.pdf

BTV

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in the New York Federal Court in September 2017
• Court awarded plaintiffs $6.6 million and granted broad injunction against defendants and third parties, including dealers
• Third parties such as web server, file hosting companies and CDNs ordered to cease support to BTV service; court also ordered transfer of domain names

• • BTV – 064 – Default Judgment and Permanent Injunction Order – Dibia Networks and Abdellah Hamead.pdf

Goyal Group

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in the Eastern District of New York in July 2018
• Reached settlement agreements with major Shava TV distributor, Goyal Group, and two Jackson Heights retailers including consent judgements of more than $2 million
• Goyal to distribute AirTV

• • 069 – Final Judgment-Rana Tech. & Mohammad Rana.pdf
  • 070 – Final Judgment-Goyal & Chandra.pdf
  • 071 – Final Judgment-ABC 1 NYC Inc., RS NYC 1, ABC Wireless 2, Bhalla, Sangpo, Lomanthang.pdf

Tiger Star

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in the Southern District of Texas in September 2018
• Obtained $1.2 million judgment and injunction
• Successful in shutting down Tiger Star’s servers and seizing several Tiger Star related domains

• • Tiger Star – 024 – Judgment and Injunction.pdf
  • Tiger Star – 029 – Order Granting Motion for Contempt.pdf

Lool IPTV

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in the Southern District of Texas in June 2016
• Court ordered $1,050,000 million judgment against Lool IPTV service defendants
• Ruling has been enforced against internet service providers and retailers

• • Lool – 025 – Final Judgement.pdf
  • Lool – 030 – Order Granting Motion for Contempt.pdf
  • Lool – 036 – Order Granting 2nd Motion for Contempt.pdf
  • Lool – 040 – Order Granting Attorneys Fees and Costs [on 036].pdf

Ellas TV

• DISH prevailed on motion for summary judgement in claim based on signal theft and awarded $700,000 in damages
• Channel at issue has been removed from the service

• • EllasTV – 035 – Order Granting Summary Judgment.pdf

TV Addons and Zem TV

• Lawsuit for copyright infringement filed in Federal Court in Texas in September 2017
• Obtained $650,000 judgement
• Zem TV developer ceased developing the add-on

• • ZemTV – 054 – Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction – Durrani.pdf

Spider TV

• Final judgement against the operator of the Spider IPTV service. DISH awarded $1,200,000 and court ordered third party IP infrastructure providers to cease providing services that support the Spider IPTV service
• Judgement against retailer in U.S. for $600,000
• Service down in U.S.

• • Spider – 023 – Final Judgment and Permanent Injunction – Dima, Yusif.pdf
  • Spider – 042 – Report and Recomendation to Grant Mot for Default Judgment.pdf
  • Spider – 043 – Order Adopting Report and Recomendation Granting Mot for Default Judgment.pdf