Stuttgart Regional Court sentences pay-TV pirates to long prison terms
Judges in Stuttgart have sentenced four operators of a large IPTV piracy platform for serious copyright infringement and gang fraud.
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The operators of an illegal IPTV platform have been sentenced to several years in prison by the Stuttgart Regional Court. The court confirmed to heise online on Monday that the sentences against the four main perpetrators are now final. An international media industry association welcomed the German judiciary's "decisive stance" against copyright infringements. The judgments were already handed down in July (case no.: 11 KLs 27 Js 17982/23).
According to the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), the group had already been active since 2006, at that time mainly with the retransmission of satellite pay TV. It later expanded "into the illegal IPTV business". The platform is said to have had an extensive library of 24,830 films, 23,730 TV episodes and a comprehensive range of TV channels.
According to the court, those now convicted are alleged to have unlawfully made this offer available to third parties in return for payment. The illegal acts, which were carried out without the consent of the rights holders, are said to have taken place over a long period of at least around ten years between 2014 and 2023.
More than three years in prison
One defendant has been sentenced to 3 years and 9 months in prison for gang and commercial computer fraud in 3787 cases. This was aggravated by 2,561 cases of "aiding and abetting the spying of data with commercial unauthorized exploitation".
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A second defendant was sentenced to 3 years and 7 months in prison for similar offenses. The third defendant was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months behind bars. The fourth defendant got off somewhat lighter, with a suspended prison sentence of one year and 11 months.
The ACE, whose members are mainly companies from the film and media industry, welcomed the convictions. "The verdict confirms Germany's firm stance against copyright infringements", explained Larissa Knapp, Vice President of the Motion Picture Association (MPA), which is one of the driving forces behind ACE. ACE also praised the Esslingen police for their investigations. The anti-piracy coalition regularly takes action against illegal streaming portals.
(akn)
