Spain’s Criminal Chamber of the National Court has reportedly handed down one of the largest compensation awards in the history of Spain for an intellectual property offence to LaLiga football league, in a record blow against audiovisual piracy.
The case, opened years ago by Nagravision and supported by LaLiga, was later joined by multiple companies, such as Movistar Plus+, Mediapro, and Egeda.
The judgment sets compensation of €12m for the affected companies and more than €30m in fines for money laundering.
The illegal IPTV network, led by the well-known ‘Dash, the Iranian’, operated through channels such as rapidiptv.com, rapidiptv.net, and iptvstack.com, distributing football broadcasts, films, and series, including LaLiga content, to more than two million people from servers spread across 13 countries on three continents.
To launder that money, the organisation used payment gateways, cryptocurrency exchanges, shell companies, and false invoices.
Among the identified operations were the construction of a residential building in Iran, the purchase of a property in Barcelona valued at €1.7m, and the acquisition of two high-end vehicles for €400,000.
The agreement includes the confiscation of all seized assets and funds, as well as the permanent shutdown of the domains.
The investigation was carried out mainly by the Central Cybercrime Unit of the Directorate General of the Police, as well as by the Intellectual Property Group of the Central Unit for Specialized and Violent Crime (UDEV), with the support of Europol and Eurojust in international coordination.
Javier Tebas, President of LaLiga, said: “Audiovisual fraud is a scourge that threatens the survival of an industry that is fundamental to the European economy, namely live sport. We are proud of this exemplary sanction, which shows that piracy must be fought forcefully at every level, especially against the organisations and mafias behind it.”
Pay-TV broadcaster Canal+ recently won a landmark piracy case in the French courts. Discover more here.
Netflix forecast to reach 400 million subscribers by 2031
Netflix is forecast to reach nearly 400 million subscribers worldwide by the end of 2031, reinforcing its position as the world’s leading subscription streaming platform despite growing consolidation across the industry.
Early Freeview switch-off would be “unprecedented gamble” for UK TV
Switching off Freeview in the 2030s would be far more complex, costly, and risky than the UK’s digital TV switchover, according to a report by Christy Swords, the former Director of Change at ITV Broadcasting, who was involved in the original process.
RTS names Chair of Student Television Awards at annual ceremony
At the annual awards ceremony, the Royal Television Society (RTS) welcomed Rhuanedd Richards as Chair of the Student Television Awards.
.jpg)
Sony invests seven figures in AI copyright protection startup
The Sony Innovation Fund has invested in Midnight Labs to protect IP from mass piracy, deepfakes, and AI-generated infringement in the US and Japanese markets.
CMA formally begins investigating Paramount's $110bn WBD merger
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published the commencement notice for its investigation of Paramount Skydance’s anticipated acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), marking the official beginning of the inquiry.
