BREIN serves ex parte order on Dutch hosting providers for 80% of Russian streaming sites

Friday morning bailiffs acting for copyright protection foundation BREIN simultaneously served ex parte court orders on five hosting providers ordering them to disconnect streaming servers and preserve identifying evidence. Three orders concerned Dutch companies and two ostensibly foreign companies of whom the servers are located in the Netherlands. The action was carried out in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE). 

“We are going after operators of these services and their hosting infrastructure as well as other intermediaries supporting these illegal services.”

The targeted service is Moonwalk, a so-called video balancer, that provides the back-end and illegal content for around 80% of known Russian illegal streaming websites. The top 50 of these websites entertain 395 million visits from 89.9 million unique visitors per month causing hundreds of millions of  euros/dollars in losses. Recent market research by the security company ESET concluded that 91% of Russians are downloading/streaming illegally.

Moonwalk operates an extensive database with over 26,000 films and over 10,000 series. Many of which belong to members of the MPA and the ACE alliance but also Dutch participants in BREIN, such as rights holders for “Bankier Van Het Verzet” (The Resistance Banker), “Michiel De Ruyter” (Admiral) and “Zwartboek” (Black Book). Moonwalk finances its operation through advertising. 

Investigations were carried out together with MPA and the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE), providing evidence on the basis of which BREIN obtained ex parte court orders to disconnect the servers and confiscate evidence. “The fight against piracy is global and we are going after operators of these services and their hosting infrastructure as well as other intermediaries supporting these illegal services”, says BREIN director Tim Kuik.

“Effectively fighting piracy today requires strong partnerships at global and local level,” says Jan Van Voorn, Executive Vice President and Chief of Global Content Protection at the Motion Picture Association. “This action coordinated between BREIN, ACE and the MPA is a significant win and another step towards preserving a healthy and vibrant ecosystem in which the creative community can produce, distribute and protect their content so that audiences can enjoy them.”