Amazon targeted by porn streaming service

Amazon’s newly released streaming box Fire TV has fallen foul of a pornographic film and video service called Fyre TV.

In a lawsuit, filed at the US District for the Southern District of Florida, Fyre TV says Amazon’s service is “substantially similar” to its own and marketed under a similar trademark.

Fire TV was launched by online retailer Amazon at the start of the month.  It is billed as a “tiny box” to connect to a TV and the “easiest way” to enjoy services including Netflix and movie rentals.

Fyre TV, operated by Florida-based Wreal, streams on-demand adult content to users’ televisions and smartphones. It was launched in 2008.

The complaint says Amazon's product is nothing more than a proprietary set-top box (STB) that performs a substantially similar, “if not identical”, function to the proprietary STB marketed under the Fyre TV trademark.

The company added that people had been publicly registering confusion over the terms, and that Amazon almost certainly was aware of the trademark before launching its product.

In its complaint, Wreal attached a news story from US news broadcaster and website CNBC that talks about the similarity between the products.

Published on the day of Fire TV’s launch, the news story said: “Someone looking for information on Amazon’s new Fire TV service on the Web might be in for a bit of a shock. The video streaming and gaming set-top box shares its name with a porn site.”

Wreal is demanding a jury trial with and damages for trademark infringement, false designation of origin, and unfair competition as well as profits Amazon earned “by its illegal use” of the Fire TV name.

Amazon did not respond immediately to requests for comment.