Korean Networks Win $65 Million from "Pirate" Streaming Service

Three Korean TV networks will receive over $65 million in damages from the manufacturers of a device called TVPad for copyright infringement and related claims.


The TVPad, a unit like an Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV, connects users with a network of retransmission apps and live broadcasts.


In June 2014, the Korean networks Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation, Seoul Broadcasting System and Korean Broadcasting System filed suit against the Chinese companies behind the device. They claimed Create New Technology, ShenZhen GreatVision and Hua Yang International distribute their programming on the TVPad network without licenses in a "pirate network."The claims included public performance copyright infringement, unfair competition and violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's clause prohibiting "traffic[king] in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof that is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected by copyright". Circumvention of copyright control is a rarer claim under the DMCA, which plaintiffs more often invoke to get pirated content removed from websites like YouTube.