Home Business Mask show at Divan.TV: the fight against piracy, or …

Mask show at Divan.TV: the fight against piracy, or …

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The Ukrainian IT-companies are hard to be scared by visits of law enforcement and fiscal authorities with their all-time techniques i.e. searches, equipment seizure and other tricks like face the wall.

Until recently, the pay-TV market players have been deprived of such an honor. However, on September 17, the mask show attended the office of the multimedia TV service Divan.TV.
As Andrey Kolodyuk, the company’s founder, told at the press-conference, the story started with the appeal to the law enforcement authorities Mikhailov, who allegedly represented a sort of Anti-Piracy Committee. Mr. Mikhailov claimed that the companies he represented had suffered the estimated damage of UAH 5 million. At that, the damage was caused not by Divan.TV, but the Russian-language TV channel HD Movies 100, incorporated to the provider’s package. According to Mr. Mikhailov, the TV channel broadcasted content violating the copyrights of its holders. And the latter did not represent some kind of provincial TV and Radio Companies, but such respectable companies like Disney, Paramount, XX Century Fox.
According to Yaroslav Kuts, the Divan.TV’s lawyer, in such a situation the right holder or his authorized person was to appeal directly to the provider requesting the copyright protection. However, the provider has not received any claims, but just one warm September day its office was visited by the representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, surrendering the ruling of the Darnytsa District Court, and waving that document they seized two company’s servers and 18 laptops. Moreover, according to the lawyer, they did not request any documents, including contracts with the right holders. According to Mr. Kolodyuk, the Divan.TV had in full order those documents. In addition, the company does not conduct any trial regarding the violation of anyone’s copyright.
The irony of the situation is that the law enforcement officers, apparently without special knowledge in IT-technologies, seized other servers but not those with the channel HD Movies 100. Thus, Mr. Kolodyuk pointed out that the channel was actually available to subscribers. After realizing their mistake the law enforcement officers started hastily obtaining relevant permits to the seized servers. Arkady Kanyuka, the Divan.TV’s Director, considers that the objective of that police raid was not the fight against piracy, but against the company.
The office and partially the server are shut down. We can not see any fight against piracy here, but rather against the Divan.TV, as Mr. Kanyuka commented on.
At the same time Mr. Kolodyuk pointed out that the problem in that case did not is just in the company. It was a rather dangerous precedent, when the appeal of any individual could shut down business of any provider. He also invited all the market players to consolidate in order to solve that problem.
“I appeal to all the players to get together and publish a list of legally operating companies for the law enforcement authorities to learn that these companies have no problem with the right holders”, as stated by the Divan.TV’s founder.
According to Mr. Kolodyuk, the law enforcement authorities, if they really want to fight against piracy, would worth pay attention to the illegal market players, the damage from which, according to him, is about UAH 1 billion.
The Divan.TV is already about to prepare lawsuits demanding the return of seized property, but the company’s lawyer believes such outlook rather clouded. He says that similar cases of other companies evidence that even if a company has a relevant court decision it turns out very complicated to return the seized equipment. The lawyers are knocking the doors of the law enforcement authorities, and those suggest visiting them tomorrow, referring to the fact that the servers are supposedly under examination. What  the law enforcement authorities do to so many seized servers is a rhetorical question.
For the time being the subscribers have available near 150 among 200 TV channels, and the Divan.TV promises its customers to indemnify for damage, while Mr. Kolodyuk states he will not try to resolve anything via influential friends, and for all that he keeps on optimistic.
The Divan.TV will not suspend its operation in Ukraine. I will not leave the country, because I want to live here doing business, as he declared.
FULL VIDEO REPORT FROM THE PRESS CONFERENCE

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