Triller today announced it has opened a website for anyone who pirated the April 17 Triller Fight Club event to pay the original $49.99 PPV price before June 1st, after which the company will be pursuing individuals for the maximum civil penalty of $150,000 per illegal stream. The payment site is https://www.fite.tv/page/041721piracysettlement/.
On the FITE.tv payment page, Triller has embedded an agreement that upon paying the $49.99 fee it will release and agree not to pursue the user for the $150,000 civil penalty that it would be entitled to against each and any individual who pirated the PPV event.
“VPN firewalls all have to comply and turn over the actual IP addresses of each person who stole the fight in discovery,” said Matt St. Claire, Head of Piracy for Triller. “We will be able to identify each and every person, VPN or not, as each stream has a unique fingerprint embedded in the content. Triller will pursue the full $150,000 penalty per person per instance for anyone who doesn’t do the right thing and pay before the deadline.”
Triller filed legal action on April 23 in U.S. District Court of Central California against the owners of the H3Podcast website for piracy of the April 17 event and a dozen other sites that restreamed and profited from as many as hundreds of thousands of users each. More than two million illegal streams of the event occurred for the Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren boxing match.
In the case of H3Podcast, Triller added the site to its legal action after the site’s owner admitted on his own podcast that he pirated and shared the Paul vs. Askren fight. The legal action could result in civil fines up to $150,000 per illegal stream, as well as potentially $250,000 in criminal fines and up to 5 years in jail. The fines are calculated at $150,000 per instance, so for H3 and other sites who rebroadcast the event to many people, the damages are large.
“We are taking this position because it is outright theft,” St. Claire added. “It is no different than walking into a store and stealing a video game off the shelf. In the case of the offending sites, it’s worse, because they also then resold it to many people, illegally profiting from work they do not own.”
Violation of federal anti-piracy laws for protected works automatically carries up to a $150,000 civil penalty, as well as up to a $250,000 criminal penalty and up to 5 years in jail per instance.
“We encourage anyone who pirated the event to visit the site before June 1, pay their $49.99 and receive a full and complete release from Triller to avoid further action,” said St. Claire.
That’s actually a pretty cool idea.
Streaming isn’t illegal, distribution is.
Nice try Triller.
I hope they really do pursue this. Hammer them for the full shebang. Deserves them right for watching that garbage.
I guess buyrates weren’t what they are saying and the have to get the money back somehow
TheIr actions are showing that it’s highly likely that Triller lost a lot of money, and the PPV numbers aren’t anywhere close to what they claimed.
Yep, I agree with your statement.
On a side note, just because they can trace VPN and ISP gateways does not mean one is responsible to pay. There are so many outliers that must be examined before this is possible. If any of you are stuck with you a bill, see if your state has a state’s Attorney General’s office for consumer protection and know your rights.
Yeah, right.
Normally, I’d feel like piracy and illegal broadcasting are wrong, but when a company knowingly allows two novices who haven’t earned the right to headline a pay-per-view to do just that and reduce the sport of boxing to a circus sideshow and then has the nerve to overprice that same sideshow during a time when people are suffering financially, I have no sympathy for that company.
I thank God I didn’t pay for this or even watch this and may Triller go bankrupt before they even collect a cent from the people who illegally watched that POS pay-per-view.
Perfectly said. Hope Triller goes bankrupt. They are not going to collect a penny.
also, maybe the real boxing fans should sue Triller for pirated boxing.
Also maybe the real boxing fans should sue Triller for pirated boxing
Good luck with that. I guess Dana White is correct. Triller didn’t get the numbers they needed. Wish that brand goes bankrupt soon. No more of that circus show with drugged out Oscar and the broadcasting crew. Maybe one more show with Oscar vs GGG. I don’t want to see or hear ODH anymore, and that fight could be the one that will end things for him. I’d like to see him get punished for all the crap he talked about GGG in the past. I’m sure Canelo wouldn’t mind getting in the ring with ODH.
Nobody says “Baby” like ODLH.
I miss the old days of HBO and Showtime showing most of the fights without all this digital conjecture, terms and conditions, disclaimers, membership fees, and most of all, the BS that goes with it.
Pirating and illegal streaming will be around as long as PPV exists. Welcome to the current age of digital entertainment. Maybe if companies would not be so greedy and selfish their worries over monies to be made can be within reason and still draw crowds.
Considering fighters are not fighting the best and Boxing has been losing steam I have no issues with outsiders coming in to promote the sport. People frowned on WNBA, women’s boxing, fantasy leagues before they were more established. Its something new and not many (adults) are open to new ideas. I support alternate thinking, especially where theres a void.
good luck collecting on a judgement
I just read the headlines and not even the article. I needed a good laugh after today.