Piracy Legal Case Hits Courts With $560m In Damages Claimed

Huge Piracy Legal Case Begins!

Anyone who pays attention to the piracy aspects of the internet will know that in the last few years, legal action has started to make in-roads. Put simply, it’s getting harder to download things illegally.

With countries, hosting companies and even internet service providers looking to crack-down on illegal content, the short version is that piracy isn’t what it used to be even as recently as 3 years ago! What is being done is clearly having an effect!

In a report via PCGamesN, this is perhaps best highlighted as one of the biggest legal cases surrounding 3 websites has currently been launched.

Prison & Huge Fine!

In the report, 4 individuals are currently in court over their involvement in 3 specific websites. These, as you might have guessed, offered various pirated content to its users. All four people on trial are (or were) connected with the SeriesYonkis, PeliculasYonkis, and VideosYonkis websites. I must admit, these are sites I had never heard of until now!

Following the collection of evidence, various film and legal authorities are pushing for a fine in the region of $560m. In addition, based on the weight of the accusations, a custodial sentence is very likely.

While the websites might not be the best known, this is certainly a pretty major legal case. Arguably one of the biggest since the era of online music piracy.

Legal Restrictions

With the court case being held in Spain, if found guilty, the fine imposed may be capped to €170 million. This will, however, almost certainly guarantee a prison sentence of around 4 years.

Given that the above websites operated legally from 2014 onwards, however, it seems clear that this investigation has been ongoing for quite some time.

This should, if nothing else, act as a warning for those who do engage in illegal downloading online. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. Or pay the fine.

What do you think? Were you aware of these websites? In addition, do you think the fine/implications if guilty are fair? – Let us know in the comments!