A group of film studios filed a copyright infringement complaint against the popular Popcorn Time app and VPN.ht last month. This is because the former shares copyrighted links without permission and the latter is promoting piracy, as alleged by the plaintiffs. They further ask the court to block their PayPal funds and domain from being transferred to others.
Popcorn Time App and VPN.ht Promoting Piracy
While it’s usual that copyrighted materials are shared without permissions, it’s also usual that those rights holders take on such infringers in several ways. A group makes one such case of moviemakers Voltage Pictures, Millennium Media, and CineTel Film.
They have filed a copyright infringement case against the apps of Popcorn Time, Showbox, and also the YTS. This month, they have also included a VPN service called VPN.ht since it’s accused of actively promoting piracy content. They have amended the complaint to include VPN.ht operator – Mohamed Amine Faouani.
The VPN.ht service is registered under Wicked Technology, which has changed its name after being under Belize company and was listed in a case of Popcorn Time app in Canada earlier. The amended complaint includes 42 Ventures, a Hawaiian company led by Kerry Culpepper as one of the plaintiffs, who’s owning the Popcorn Time copyright.
As they’re alleged copyright-infringing crimes, the plaintiffs now asked the court to pass a restraining order to block the available funds of VPN.ht and also direct the domain registrar of the Popcorn Time app to block the domain from transferring to others. This hopes to give them time to find more allegations and put more pressure on the operators.
Also, the plaintiffs have requested the court to order Cloudflare, GitHub, and PayPal to share the details of these two services’ alleged operators, which can help them simplify the case.