The two people, both in upper middle age, ran an illegal IP TV network from their homes in Norrland between 2017 and 2021.
Together they had almost 13,000 customers around Sweden.
Behind the mood were the three largest Swedish streaming services – Viaplay, Discovery and C More (now TV4 Play).
The men were both given two years and six months in prison for serious copyright infringement.
“In the current case, the court has taken particular account of the large number of customers that existed in the network”said senior prosecutor Anna Ginner in a press release from the Public Prosecutor’s Office after the verdict.
Gold bars and whiskey bottles worth millions
The police made their first house search at the men’s home in October 2021.
Once there, one of the men’s computers was found, logged into various services that could be directly connected to the illegal IP-TV network.
The men sold and brokered IP TV services from their homes and had server halls in, among other places, the Netherlands. They then relayed television broadcasts, such as sports and entertainment, to their users.
The men made huge money from the business, and had it as their main source of income.
At the home of one of the men, 47 gold bars, 80,000 kroner in cash and Bitcoin worth almost half a million kroner were found.
Whiskey bottles worth millions and around SEK 200,000 in cash were found with the other man.
The verdict: SEK 103 million to Viaplay
The district court also decided that the plaintiffs, Viaplay, C More and Discovery, would receive large damages from the men.
In total, the men must pay SEK 196,247,000 to the streaming services, of which Viaplay will receive around SEK 103 million.
This is the first conviction of serious copyright infringement since the criminal classification was introduced in September 2020.
The men’s lawyers have said they will appeal the verdict.
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2023-12-19 21:21:26
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