Advanced Television

Italian Court orders Cloudfare to assist in combatting piracy

December 23, 2024

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

The Milan Court has issued a landmark ruling in the fight against digital piracy, siding with the Serie A League in its lawsuit against content delivery network provider Cloudflare.

The court has ordered Cloudflare to prevent users from accessing websites illegally streaming Serie A football matches by blocking their domain names and network traffic. Cloudflare must also share information about its customers and users who utilise its services to distribute pirated content.

The court additionally ordered Cloudflare to cease providing CDN, DNS, and proxy services to websites involved in illegal streaming of Serie A matches.

Cloudflare will be fined €10,000 per day for non-compliance with the court order.

The court determined that Cloudflare, while not directly involved in content creation, played a crucial role in enabling piracy. Its services allowed pirate sites to hide their location and avoid detection; circumvent restrictions imposed by internet service providers; and continue distributing illegal content without hindrance.

Despite being notified of the issue, Cloudflare failed to take sufficient measures to prevent its services from being used for illegal activities.

This landmark decision establishes a new precedent for the liability of technology companies in combating online piracy. It emphasises the importance of protecting intellectual property rights and the economic sustainability of professional sports. The court ruling is expected to have a significant impact on future legal battles against digital piracy.

Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo hailed the ruling as a “turning point” in the fight against piracy, which costs the league hundreds of millions of euros annually. For its part, sports streaming platform DAZN expressed satisfaction with the ruling, emphasising the need to combat piracy effectively.

Categories: Articles, Content, Piracy

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