Anti-piracy body the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) has confirmed that a lawsuit filed by member company DISH Network against Virtual Systems, LLC and its owner and CEO, Vyacheslav Smyrnov, has resulted in a $41.85 million (€36m) judgment.

The lawsuit against Virtual Systems and Smyrnov, filed in October 2024, alleged that Virtual Systems implemented a ‘DMCA Ignored’ policy, advertising that “we ignore DMCA takedown notices.” The lawsuit further asserted that Virtual Systems ignored more than 500 separate notices of infringement from IBCAP and allowed the continued use of Virtual Systems’ servers and network by numerous pirate services. Smyrnov was sued in his personal capacity for authorising, directing and participating in Virtual Systems’ infringing activities and failing to exercise his ability to curtail the infringement.
In the ruling against Virtual Systems and Smyrnov, the US District Court Western District of Washington at Seattle determined that the “Defendants received at least 512 DCMA-compliant notices of infringement as well as United States court orders notifying Defendants about the infringement taking place on their servers and network and enjoining further infringement, but Defendants did not take any actions to stop the infringement.” The Court further found that Virtual Systems and Smyrnov willfully infringed the subject copyrights based on their “reckless disregard for, or willful blindness to, the copyright holder’s rights.”

“This ruling against Virtual Systems and its owner is another example of the consequences for hosting providers that choose to ignore takedown notices from IBCAP,” said Chris Kuelling, executive director of IBCAP. “IBCAP does not tolerate hosting providers and content delivery networks that disregard the law and fail to comply with our takedown notices. The result of such noncompliance is not only a permanent injunction, but also significant monetary damages, in this case more than $41 million, personally owed by the owner, Mr. Smyrnov.”

This judgment follows a recent $3 million settlement paid by hosting provider Datacamp Limited in a separate lawsuit coordinated by IBCAP. Another lawsuit against hosting provider Innetra P.C. is pending.

The case was coordinated by IBCAP and brought by IBCAP member DISH Network L.L.C. Evidence for the case was obtained and provided by the IBCAP lab. Prosecution of the case was handled by Hagan Noll & Boyle, LLC.

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Business, Content, DTH/Satellite, Pay TV, Piracy, Policy, Regulation, Rights

Tags: Dish Network, IBCAP, Virtual Systems