The Stuttgart Regional Court has sentenced the operators of an illegal IPTV platform to several years in prison. The court confirmed online on Monday that the verdicts against the four people primarily responsible are now final. An international media industry association welcomed the German judiciary’s “decisive stance” against copyright infringement. The decisions had already been given in July (ref: 11 KL 27 JS 17982/23).
Advertisement
According to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the group was active since 2006, at that time primarily dealing with satellite pay TV rebroadcasts. Later it expanded into illegal IPTV business. The platform is said to have an extensive library of 24,830 movies, 23,730 TV episodes, and a wide range of TV channels.
According to the court, the now convicted men are said to have illegally made the offering available to third parties for a fee. These illegal actions, which took place without the consent of the rights holders, are said to have lasted for at least a ten-year period between 2014 and 2023.
More than three years in jail
3,787 counts sent a defendant to prison for 3 years and 9 months for gang and commercial computer fraud. To make matters worse, 2,561 of the cases involved “aiding and abetting the espionage of data with unauthorized commercial exploitation”.
The second defendant was also sentenced to 3 years and 7 months in prison for a similar offence. The third defendant will have to remain behind bars for 2 years and 10 months. A fourth defendant got off lightly, with a prison sentence of one year and 11 months suspended.
ACE, which consists primarily of companies from the film and media industry, Strong belief welcomed. “This decision confirms Germany’s tough stance against copyright infringement, which is one of the driving forces behind ACE,” said Larissa Knapp, vice president of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). ACE also praised the Esslingen police for their investigation. The anti-piracy coalition regularly takes action against illegal streaming portals.
(vbr)
