ABS-CBN files $40-million lawsuit against pirate sites in US

MANILA, Philippines — Media giant ABS-CBN Corp. is suing 40 video piracy sites in the United States as part of a crackdown on illegal content.

In a statement on Wednesday, ABS-CBN announced the filing of a $40 million lawsuit before the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Under the lawsuit ABS-CBN v. 123Fullpinoymovies.hub.com, the broadcasting network said the sites were pirating its shows and infringing its copyrights and trademarks.

“The court recently issued a preliminary injunction against these 40 pirate domains to take down the domains with a serving notice,” ABS-CBN said.

ABS-CBN also said online pirates have been thriving during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the same time, pirate domains contained malware that could infect consumer devices, said Elisha Lawrence, ABS-CBN assistant vice president and head of global anti-piracy.

“Watch our content on safe legitimate services such as ABS-CBN’s OTT platform iWantTFC and the TFC channel on all major cable and satellite providers,” she said.

ABS-CBN said it was represented by Stephen M. Gaffigan and Christine Daley of the Law Offices of Stephen M. Gaffigan in the US.

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