3 Count: Suspended Domains

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1: Village Roadshow’s Legal Battle Against Warner Bros. Can Proceed, Judge Says

First off today, Winston Cho at The Hollywood Reporter Esquire reports that Village Roadshow has notched a minor victory in its fight against Warner Bros. over Warner’s alleged mishandling of several of its films.

Village Roadshow is a company that owns partial rights to many of the films that Warner Bros. released. However, during the pandemic, many of those films were released simultaneously on streaming and in theaters, something that Village Roadshow argues harmed their profits from the release.

The two sides argued before a judge in the case, with Village Roadshow seeking to keep the case in court and to also file for an injunction against Warner. Warner, on the other hand, wants the case to move to arbitration. The judge did not rule on the arbitration issue but did allow Village Roadshow to file a motion for a preliminary injunction, granting them a minor victory.

2: Major Streaming Piracy Sites Have Their Domain Names Suspended

Next up today, Ernesto Van der Sar at Torrentfreak writes that two major TV streaming sites have had their domains suspended in the past few days, even as the sites have relocated to new domains.

The sites include Lookmovie and Cuevana3, both sites that have millions of visitors. Both sites are subject to active investigations by rightsholders. However, it appears that the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) has managed to get the main domains of those sites suspended.

The suspension was executed by the .io domain registry, which has traditionally been resistant to such action. However, the suspension is not the end for the sites, as both have already moved on to new domains and plan to continue operating from there.

3: Russian Defendant Appeals $83M Default Judgment in Record Labels’ ‘Stream Ripping’ Case

Finally today, Christina Tabacco at Law Street reports that Russian national Tofig Kurbanov has filed an appeal of an $83 million default judgment that has been issued against him.

Kurbanov was sued by the major record labels, alleging that he operated a stream ripping site that allowed users to illegally download MP3s. He initially fought the case but, when it came time for discovery, he ceased participating, resulting in a default judgment against him. After that judgment was handed down, the court handed down an $83 million judgment against him, plus reasonable attorneys fees and court costs.

However, now Kurbanov is back and is appealing that decision. In a filing with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Kurbanov is asking the court to overturn that decision as well as the order for producing discovery that led to the default judgment.

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