Russian internet company Rambler Media Group is trying to sue Amazon-owned streaming service Twitch to the tune of RUB180 billion (US$2.8 billion) over pirate broadcasts of Premier League soccer games.
According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, Rambler alleges that its exclusive broadcasting rights to English soccer’s top flight were violated by Twitch 36,000 times between August and November.
The amount that Rambler is seeking in damages has been calculated by multiplying the number of alleged illegal views of the Premier League on Twitch by the maximum amount of compensation, which is RUB5 million (US$80,000).
The Moscow City Court, which plans to hear the case on 20th December, has ordered a temporary suspension of Premier League streams on Twitch as an interim measure, a court spokesperson told the TASS state news agency.
Rambler secured exclusive Premier League coverage in Russia for the 2019/20 to 2021/22 cycle in April for a reported €7 million (US$7.8 million), choosing to exploit the rights on its new over-the-top (OTT) service Okko.
Twitch’s lawyer, Julianna Tabastaeva, has labelled Rambler’s case “unfounded”, telling the Kommersant newspaper that the Twitch “only provides users with access to the platform, does not post its own content, cannot change the content posted by users, or track possible violations of rights.”
She added that Twitch took all necessary measures to eliminate violations, “despite the fact that Rambler did not send any official notifications, only screenshots of pages, and even those without specific dates.”
Meanwhile, Rambler has since told Reuters that it is in talks with Twitch over signing a settlement agreement over the dispute.
“Our suit against Twitch is to defend our exclusive rights to broadcast English Premier League matches and we will continue to actively combat pirate broadcasts,” said Mikhail Gershkovich, Rambler Group’s head of sports projects.
“We’re currently holding talks with Twitch to sign a settlement agreement. The service has given us tools to combat pirate broadcasts and we are now only talking about compensation for damages between August and November.”
Russian internet company Rambler Media Group is trying to sue Amazon-owned streaming service Twitch to the tune of RUB180 billion (US$2.8 billion) over pirate broadcasts of Premier League soccer games.
According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, Rambler alleges that its exclusive broadcasting rights to English soccer’s top flight were violated by Twitch 36,000 times between August and November.
The amount that Rambler is seeking in damages has been calculated by multiplying the number of alleged illegal views of the Premier League on Twitch by the maximum amount of compensation, which is RUB5 million (US$80,000).
The Moscow City Court, which plans to hear the case on 20th December, has ordered a temporary suspension of Premier League streams on Twitch as an interim measure, a court spokesperson told the TASS state news agency.
Rambler secured exclusive Premier League coverage in Russia for the 2019/20 to 2021/22 cycle in April for a reported €7 million (US$7.8 million), choosing to exploit the rights on its new over-the-top (OTT) service Okko.
Twitch’s lawyer, Julianna Tabastaeva, has labelled Rambler’s case “unfounded”, telling the Kommersant newspaper that the Twitch “only provides users with access to the platform, does not post its own content, cannot change the content posted by users, or track possible violations of rights.”
She added that Twitch took all necessary measures to eliminate violations, “despite the fact that Rambler did not send any official notifications, only screenshots of pages, and even those without specific dates.”
Meanwhile, Rambler has since told Reuters that it is in talks with Twitch over signing a settlement agreement over the dispute.
“Our suit against Twitch is to defend our exclusive rights to broadcast English Premier League matches and we will continue to actively combat pirate broadcasts,” said Mikhail Gershkovich, Rambler Group’s head of sports projects.
“We’re currently holding talks with Twitch to sign a settlement agreement. The service has given us tools to combat pirate broadcasts and we are now only talking about compensation for damages between August and November.”
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