Amazon India Pursues Pirate Streaming Apps Hosted on GitHub

• Indian subsidiary Amazon Seller Services initiated DMCA takedown notices against GitHub regarding pirate streaming apps.
• These allegations claim unauthorized use of third-party code or hosting pirated software for convenience.
• Among the APK files to be removed are some affiliated with popular streaming services PikaShow, Castle, and FlixFox.

Amazon is intensifying its efforts to combat unauthorized access to its Prime Video content by targeting pirate streaming applications. Amazon's Indian subsidiary, Amazon Seller Services, initiated DMCA takedown notices against GitHub to remove APK files affiliated with popular streaming applications such as PikaShow, Castle, and FlixFox.

GitHub, a platform renowned for hosting over 500 million open-source projects, frequently processes DMCA takedown requests. In the first half of this year alone, it handled over 1,000 notices, resulting in the removal of 18,472 projects. Despite these significant numbers, they represent only a small fraction of the projects hosted on the site.

The allegations against these pirate streaming apps often involve claims of unauthorized use of third-party code or hosting pirated software for convenience. The current takedown notices, sent by anti-piracy group MarkScan on behalf of Amazon, underscore the widespread issue of pirate streaming apps using GitHub to store Android APK files.

The most prominent target in this crackdown is PikaShow, a widely used application that has garnered millions of downloads. Despite the popularity of the PikaShow brand, many unrelated apps have adopted the name, complicating efforts to manage the proliferation of infringing content.

Interestingly, the DMCA takedown request was not submitted by Amazon MGM Studios, the entity responsible for Amazon Prime content. Instead, the request came from Amazon Seller Services Pvt Ltd., an Indian retail subsidiary of Amazon. Although the notice does not specify particular copyrighted works, merely referencing Primevideo.com sufficed for GitHub to comply.

This recent action by Amazon underscores the persistent challenges of app piracy. GitHub has received numerous takedown requests this year, targeting pirate streaming apps linked to various content providers. Companies like Hotstar, Paramount, Digiturk, and Sony have all flagged similar infringements, leading to the removal of over a dozen APKs.

While GitHub's compliance with these requests helps mitigate the issue, it does not completely eradicate the problem. Some pirated apps and their associated APK files remain accessible, underscoring the ongoing need for vigilance in the fight against digital piracy.

In other recent news, Japanese publishing company Shueisha pursues manga pirates in the U.S., leveraging Cloudflare, PayPal, and VISA data to uncover the identity of the pirate websites’ operators and hit the individuals with civil lawsuits.