BREIN catches repeat offenders: accused has to pay 4,800 EUR

Google Translation:

The Antipiracy organization BREIN has a new judgment against a seller of counterfeit TV series recently obtained. The defendant has to pay 4,800 euros because he has repeatedly demonstrated that he has violated applicable law despite submitting an injunction.

BREIN is looking for strikingly cheap offers on the web

In 2018, one person was sued for offering black-copied episodes of various television series with classified ads in various online marketplaces. At that time, the accused signed the Dutch version of a punitive injunction. This means: as soon as you can prove to the contracting party that he is repeating his misconduct, he undertakes to automatically pay a contractually agreed amount. BREIN translates this as a " abstinence declaration including a penalty clause" .

A year later, BREIN's investigators were able to discover offers of similar content again. Based on their bank details, they were able to determine that they were the same person as before. After the seller of the plagiarism was informed in writing, he emphatically denied that he had anything to do with this trade. By submitting the injunction, he ceased his illegal activities. Someone wanted to harm him by making false suspects unknown, the later defendant replied to the letter. Already on the basis of the handwriting on the packages with which the black-burned DVDs were sent, one can check whether it is the same perpetrator.

The account number betrayed the perpetrator

The district court ruled against the accused. The latter did not dispute that the account number used for the illegal sales was not his. It may well be that the handwriting is different. However, according to the judgment, the accused could not plausibly substantiate the allegation that someone else misused their data for their own mailing. He could also have reported the identity theft to the police, which the person failed to do. All of this suggests that it is not a new provider, but a repeat offender who was simply active again.

The court ordered the defendant to pay a fine, plus the court costs, reminder fees and statutory interest. This amount adds up to a total of around EUR 4,800. According to BREIN, the verdict was announced on June 4, 2020 by a district court within the Netherlands, which was not specifically named.

Product piracy or the fight against "parasites"

The managing director of BREIN described the suppliers of black pressed DVDs in February this year as " parasites ". The sale of haptic media (Blu-Ray discs, DVDs etc.) is still an important source of income for rights holders as well as for the trade. BREIN Director Tim Kuik announced at the time that the market could not be affected by such pests given the limited financial scope.