The Brazilian court sued one YouTuber for uploading a do-it-yourself (DIY) piracy tutorial on the internet protocol TV (IPTV) services.
The video posted by the Brazilian YouTube channel Jorge Dejorge garnered attention after uploading the privacy tutorial. Dejorge boasts more than 600,000 subscribers with millions of views across his uploads, which are commonly focused on unboxing and reviewing unique smartphones.
Case ruling
The channel, operated by a São Paulo native named Bruno Gustavo, posted the infringing content back in 2017. Back then, Gustavo argued that these DIY videos were “informative” and did not train people to break any piracy laws, so they remained online. The court asked Gustavo to pay 10,000 Brazilian Real or roughly $1,700.
ABTA, Brazil’s non-profit core cable and on-demand broadcast companies, gained the initial lawsuit despite that argument. In 2018, the offending video was casted off a local court through hosting and search organizations, which includes YouTube’s parent company, Google.
The Court of Justice of São Paulo eventually ruled over the case in April. The court found Gustavo guilty of breaching the rights of the ABTA’s members.
According to a separate report, Gustavo was found reproducing logos, infringing the copyrights, and “unfairly competing” towards the broadcast corporations.
The court requested Gustavo to pay ABTA five times of his original fine in 2018 with the final cost of 50,000 Brazilian Real or more than $8,600 plus lawsuit costs and compensation to the broadcasters.
The court also ordered the author not to publish any content material that infringes the copyrights of Brazilian TV stations. ABTA, whose president Oscar Simões, said:
“We hope that large digital media companies will adopt a more responsive posture in relation to the publication of illegal content on their platforms. We are all responsible for preventing and combating illicit acts and crimes practiced on the Internet.”
The São Paulo market
Piracy-associated issues are not new to Brazil, with the country’s efforts to combat the challenge for more than a decade. People are selling fake Louis Vuitton bags, Nike Sneakers, or Oakley sunglasses in São Paulo for only $5 to $30.
A tiny black receiver box, which promised to broadcast nearly every cable or streaming TV series on Earth, was the hottest item on the market during the 2018 Christmas.
With the surge in Latin America’s streaming marketplace in recent months, Gustavo won’t be the only piracy-related case. However, officers are optimistic that they will eventually win over piracy. Salles Neto of the Brazilian Association of Pay-TV said:
“Piracy issues in Brazil has been going on since Galileo.”
He added that they want to take the problem critically and act accordingly.
Image courtesy of StockSnap/Pixabay