Dish Seeks $1.95 Million Default Judgment in ZemTV Video Piracy Complaint

Dish Network is seeking default judgment against the creator of the ZemTV streaming service and $1.95 million in damages and a court order that third-party service providers stop providing service that supports ZemTV's copyright infringement. In a motion (in Pacer, docket 17-cv-01618) for default judgment Friday in U.S. District Court in Houston, Dish said since defendant Shahjahan Durrani's motion to dismiss was denied in April, he hasn't replied to Dish's complaint or defended himself. Durrani didn't comment. Dish sued Durrani and another defendant in 2017, claiming they abetted video piracy through retransmission of channels exclusively licensed to Dish through the ZemTV add-on, downloadable at TVAddons websites, for the Kodi media player (see 1801090012). Dish reached a voluntary settlement (in Pacer) with the other defendant.