Dish, Sling TV Challenge Alleged Programming Pirates in DMCA Lawsuit

Marcelino Padilla and Danny Contreras circumvented Dish Network and Sling TV’s security measures and retransmitted their copyrighted TV programming without authorization, alleged a Digital Millennium Copyright Act complaint Friday (docket 8:24-cv-01028) in U.S. District Court for Central California.

The defendants are trafficking in “illicit internet streaming television services” that are accessed using vSeeBox and Tanggula set-top boxes, alleged the complaint. Padilla sells services to resellers including Contreras and to other users through his Facebook page and Facebook groups, alleged the complaint. Padilla is administrator of those groups, which include Vsee, Super Box, Tips, Superbox Support & Sales, Superbox Support and Tanggula TV Box, the complaint said. Contreras traffics in the services by selling them to users that contact him and Padilla, it said.

Padilla advertises that for a one-time cost of $350, he can ship a Stream TV box “to your doorstep” throughout the U.S., said the complaint. He offers the box “all preloaded, plug and play ready!” and tells prospective customers they will “get everything with no programming ever required, no monthly fees or silly codes, get live local HD channels, sports, movies, tv series, and PPV … (adult section in most models),” the complaint said.

An investigator for Dish and Sling sent a private message to Padilla, inquiring about the services accessed using the Tanggula set-top box; Padilla responded that he was posting them for a reseller named Danny and gave a 714 number and a $350 cost. The investigator texted the provided number, asking about the services accessed with the Tanggula box and received a text back, giving the $350 price and payment options through CashApp and Venmo to Contreras, the complaint said.

The plaintiffs procured the Tanggula set-top box, tested it “and confirmed that the Services intercepted and transmitted” Dish and Sling channels without authorization, the complaint said. Plaintiffs conducted a technical analysis of the corresponding channels on the services and discovered identifiers unique to their internet transmissions of the channels, the complaint said. Through sampling several channels, they found “numerous instances” where their channels were being retransmitted to users without authorization, the complaint said. Pirated channels included AMC Thrillers, Big Ten Network, Bon Appetit, Comedy Dynamics, ESPN and MLB Network, it said.

The channels are retransmitted to users by “circumventing the Widevine DRM,” which “controls access” to the channels, alleged the complaint. Plaintiffs’ subscribers present a valid digital authentication key and license request to Sling’s Widevine digital rights management server to obtain the channel decryption key necessary to unlock a particular channel, the complaint said. The channel decryption key is provided to subscribers in an encrypted communication; the key isn't exposed to the subscriber but is secured in the content decryption models of the Widevine-supported device, it said. The Widevine DRM also protects against copying by using the key to ensure subscribers can only view a particular channel and not transmit it, said the complaint.

Upon information and belief, users of the illicit services can receive plaintiffs’ channels because the Widevine DRM is being circumvented, said the complaint. Additional content provided on the services is believed to be acquired from legitimate pay-TV providers that use Widevine DRM “through this process of circumvention,” enabling the illicit services to offer “thousands of channels and tens of thousands of on-demand programs at a small fraction of the cost charged by legitimate providers that pay to license their content,” such as Dish and Sling, it said.

Padilla and Contreras were notified of their DMCA and Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) violations and asked to cease and desist selling, operating, participating in or supporting the infringing services, but the services have continued to operate, alleged the complaint.

Dish and Sling seek a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from trafficking in services, set-top boxes or any other technology that is primarily designed for circumventing DRM or other technology that the plaintiffs use to “control access to or protect against copying of a copyrighted work," said the complaint.

The plaintiffs seek an order awarding the greater of actual damages and defendants’ profits attributable to the DCMA violations or statutory damages up to $2,500 for each violation identified in DCMA claims. They also seek actual or statutory damages of either $100 per day for each day of violation or $10,000 under the ECPA, whichever is greater. In addition, they seek punitive damages; an accounting of all profits and other benefits the defendants received from the wrongful conduct described; plus attorneys’ fees, costs and pre- and post-judgment interest.