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‘MagisTV’ Piracy Blocking Efforts in Ecuador Expand, Trademark Application Denied
Ecuador's top football league, LigaPro, continues to fight the availability of pirate streaming services. Dozens of 'unauthorized' platforms are active, but MagisTV is seen as the main adversary. To combat this threat, dozens of new IP-addresses were blocked by Internet providers. Meanwhile, rightsholders caught a ball out of left field, successfully opposing a trademark application by MagisTV.
Rightsholders around the globe are actively fighting piracy, but few are as vocal as Miguel Angel Loor, the boss of Ecuador’s football league LigaPro.
The football boss has repeatedly spoken out against pirate services, particularly MagisTV, and continues to do so. Meanwhile, no remedy is left unused to tackle the problem.
Critics have argued that by focusing so much attention on the pirate service itself, public campaigns might be counterproductive. For example, displaying ‘anti-MagisTV’ banners during official football matches could introduce people to this pirate service, instead of scaring them away.
Blocked IP-addresses Put Users at Risk?
LigaPro clearly has a different outlook. The league’s boss continues to speak out against piracy as a whole, and doesn’t shy away from mentioning names. Earlier this month, the league managed to reinforce local pirate site blockades by adding 183 new IP-addresses to the MagisTV piracy blocklist that was already in place.
“The granting of the IP address blocking order is a legal victory for the legitimate rights holders and the thousands of customers who pay formally for their various content services,” a statement in response to the order explained.
In addition to blocking additional IP-addresses, the court reportedly warned that anyone who attempts to access the blocked IP-addresses, is subject to penalties and fines for copyright infringement. How those ‘attempted’ copyright infringements will be validated and enforced remains conveniently unexplained.
It’s possible that the added warning for users is mostly intended as a deterrent. In any case, it’s clear that local authorities are sympathetic to LigaPro’s concerns, especially now that the new season is underway.
More Sites and IPs Blocked
Last Friday, a another court order came in, requiring local Internet providers to block eight additional websites and 24 IP addresses. This includes a MagisTV-branded site, but also other alleged pirate streaming sites and apps, such as futbollibretv.pe, tele-latino.net, and rojadirectaenvivo.pl.
Interestingly, the full list of targets includes URLs that are part of larger non-infringing websites. For example, buyiptvsmarters.myshopify.com is a Shopify subdomain that links to a pirate IPTV subscription page. Another sub-target is xc.softonic.com/android, which appears to be a pirate app distributed via the otherwise legal platform Softonic.
It’s not clear whether LigaPro or other rightsholders attempted to have these pages removed through the regularly available takedown procedures, before obtaining the court order. Needless to say, blocking the associated IP-addresses will likely result in overblocking if that’s taking place.
MagisTV Trademark
Aside from the blocking efforts, rightsholders have also pushed back against MagisTV on another front. Apparently, the company ‘Shenzhen Geshan Technology’ has repeatedly tried to register a MagisTV trademark (Magis TV Mas Grafica) in Ecuador.
These applications were successfully objected at the trademark office by LigaPro, most recently with help from Paramount Pictures and DIRECTV.
“Incredibly, they are trying to register the ‘trademark’ in [Ecuador] for the SECOND time. The first time was already denied. Now, LigaPro again opposed, together with Paramount Pictures and Directv, and our opposition has been granted,” LigaPro’s boss wrote on X.
Backlash & Reckless Play?
Miguel Angel Loor’s public opposition of MagisTV and other pirate services seems relentless. LigaPro’s boss recently revealed that local Internet providers are now on board to help out. Whether that entails more than complying with court orders is unknown, but MagisTV was again prominently mentioned.
These anti-piracy messages are welcomed by rightsholders, but they elicit quite a different response from many ordinary citizens, some of which respond with mocking and defiant replies. These retorts typically complain about expensive legal options, and some are showing off how they continue to pirate.
LigaPro’s boss has noticed these responses and, while most are ignored, he replied to a user who showed that he was already using MagisTV as usual, through a VPN.
According to Loor, “this guy” supports a pirate service that ultimately generates revenue, which “surely” funds other types of crime including sexual exploitation. No source was provided for this claim. Loor added, however, that VPNs are not all risk-free either (if the company running it has malicious intentions).
“[T]his guy is VOLUNTARILY giving away all the data on his phone without realizing that the passwords and everything he sends will be exposed with the VPN. But hey, keep fighting against what is legal and correct,” Loor added.
Of course, these remarks were met with a barrage of other responses, criticizing LigaPro and showing off pirate apps and services. Instead of reaching some kind of consensus or agreement, both sides are becoming more extreme.
And so the ball keeps rolling.
