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1 November 2019CopyrightSaman Javed

Openload and Streamango cease operation under ACE settlement

Two major piracy websites have agreed to cease all operations as part of a settlement with the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment ( ACE), a global coalition of film studios and entertainment companies.

In an announcement yesterday, October 31, ACE said it has achieved a “major win” after the operator of both Openload and Streamango agreed to stop operating the services and pay a “significant” settlement payment, the amount of which was not disclosed.

Prior to the agreement, Openload had more than 1,000 servers in Romania, France and Germany, and generated more traffic than many sources of legal content, including Sky, Hulu and HBO Go.

The site was also named on the Office of the US Trade Representative’s 2018 Notorious Markets watch list for “incentivising users to upload unauthorised content in exchange for free downloads”.

ACE estimated that it provided pirated content to 36 of the top 50 illegal video streaming and linking sites worldwide.

Charles Rivkin, CEO of the Motion Picture Association and chair of ACE, said the settlement was another step in ACE’s commitment to protecting the legal marketplace for creative content.

“For years, these two pirate operations failed to take meaningful action to stop the dissemination of illegal content, harming creators and misleading consumers,” he said.

Also this week, ACE announced a coalition with Charter Communications, a US-based telecomms and mass media company, which will aim to help companies reduce unauthorised access to their content.

Rivkin said that while the digital era has led to an “explosion” of new streaming platforms, it has also brought challenges like unauthorised access that “compromises the IP that supports content creators and the economic viability of their work”.

The coalition will provide opportunities for companies to share best practices and information on what facilitates unauthorised access, including improper password sharing and inadequate encryption.

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29 July 2019   Two operators of a Uruguay-based piracy website have been sentenced to three years and four months in prison.