Omniverse to Pay $50 Million in Piracy Damages to Hollywood Studios
Last updated September 27, 2021
- Omniverse will settle with the Hollywood Studios that were chasing its boss, paying $50 million to them.
- The IPTV platform has already ceased operations and was already dealing with another lawsuit from streaming companies.
- Some say the fine is not as big as it seems, and others suspect that the amount to be paid is even smaller.
Omniverse has agreed to pay a humongous fine to Hollywood studios after the latter sued the former. The order came from the United States District Court of California, and the now-defunct IPTV platform has agreed to reach the proposed settlement as they didn’t have much margin for improvement in this situation. The studios who cosign the lawsuit against Omniverse are Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Disney Enterprises, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros Entertainment, and Universal. Obviously, one cannot put up a legal fight against a group of such high prestige and endless financial resources.
Back in February, Omniverse received another lawsuit from Netflix and Amazon, as the two streaming service giants were very dissatisfied with the fact that the IPTV platform was massively distributing their content without a license. The two asked the Californian court for a permanent injunction and statutory damages of $150k per infringed work. Omniverse has ceased operations since then, and its boss, Jason M. Demeo, is just trying to get out of the legal mud pit he has fallen into. However, some commentators aren’t convinced by the $50 million fine that was imposed on the IPTV platform.
Omniverse made undisclosed amounts of money thanks to its operations in the illegal market, holding a crucial position in the content supply chain, and providing millions with access to unauthorized streams. $50 million may sound like a lot, but it could be nothing next to what Omniverse made all these years. Moreover, some are right to point out that the announced settlement agreements are far from the actual sums that are exchanged behind closed doors. Torrent freak gives the example of a secret settlement agreement between Hotfile and the MPAA, which took place in 2014 and transformed the publicly announced “$80 million” to a pale $4 million.
Whatever the case really is, and no matter what has been agreed between the parties behind closed doors, copyright holders and their representatives are happy with the outcome. Karen Thorland, the Senior Vice President at the Motion Picture Association, and one of the key members of the ACE coalition has made the following statement: “This judgment and injunction are a major win for creators, audiences, and the legitimate streaming market, which has been undermined by Omniverse and its ‘back office’ piracy infrastructure for years.”
Where do you stand on the whole Omniverse case? Do you consider the $50 million to be a fair amount? Let us know of your opinion in the comments down below, or on our socials, on Facebook and Twitter.
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