
UFC Pirate Ordered to Pay $32m in Damages Says He Was Bullied and Paid Nothing - Cantbekhan
https://torrentfreak.com/ufc-pirate-ordered-to-pay-32m-in-damages-says-he-was-bullied-paid-nothing-200802/
======
TedDoesntTalk
> “Are you trying to tell me that people who can barely pay their bills should
> not be able to show support for your product if they so choose?”

This is laughable. I’m an avid torrentor, but I don’t delude myself into
thinking what I’m doing is good for the copyright holder.

~~~
thomaslord
I mean HN probably skews towards people who could easily afford the
subscription, but it could be a legitimate benefit to the UFC brand to
maintain the engagement of fans who can't afford to pay. Those people may lose
interest if they can't watch at all, but they might be able to afford the
subscription in a few years. High school/college students are one demographic
that comes to mind, but this could easily apply to adults trying to escape
poverty as well.

I don't know which way the balance swings in terms of people who can afford to
pay and choose not to vs. people who can't afford to pay, but I think with
something like the UFC that relies to some degree on fan culture for its
appeal there's a clear benefit from having more people watch it even if those
additional viewers don't pay.

~~~
TedDoesntTalk
Aren’t there pubs or restaurants that air these for non-subscribers, like they
do for soccer/football?

~~~
tyingq
There are, but it's pretty expensive for the bar. $1200 for a single event, 8
years ago: [https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/8/10/3233243/new-light-
shed...](https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/8/10/3233243/new-light-shed-on-
closed-circuit-ufc-broadcasts-at-bars)

------
mwill
It's funny how the world changes, they went to such great lengths to target
one pirate, but nowdays you can pirate UFC streams by literally googling it
while the event is on, or just hanging out on twitter or reddit catching links
before they're deleted.

(I know this because I buy every PPV via Fightpass, and probably 10-25% of the
time the official app fails at least once, and won't log back in for 10-30
minutes, usually leading up to hyped up fights.)

~~~
sbolt
Are PPV fights discounted if you have Fightpass?

------
luma
This brings up an interesting angle on the sorts of eye-watering settlement
amounts levied against teenagers we read about so often. Are they all setup
this way? Do the rights holders expect to be paid or are they happy to
announce an insane sum + gag order and call the issue settled?

~~~
NoOneNew
Seems like a nice way of teaching them a lesson without being completely
harsh. The thing the kid here doesn't understand, they get caught for pirating
again by another organization, that set of lawyers now have documentation that
they didn't learn their lesson from their last tango. They will pursue full
damages and collect since any public apology will be meaningless.

And yea, there are settlements like this. For one, to hold certain IP rights,
you have to defend them, even if you dont want to. Because if you dont,
someone else can use that as a case you're not protecting your IP, thus party
2 can go around and sell it without legal recourse. This was a slap on the
wrist that actually makes me like the UFC even more now.

~~~
syshum
>>For one, to hold certain IP rights, you have to defend them, even if you
dont want to.

That has been a myth around Trademark for a long time, and it is a false hood
[1], I am saddened that this myth is now spreading to Copyright law as well.
There is no provision of copyright that would mandate a copyright holder to
relentlessly police the internet finding all infringement less they loose
their copyright. That simply does not exist at all so I would recommend not
representing this fake information

[1] [https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-
not...](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/trademark-law-does-not-require-
companies-tirelessly-censor-internet)

~~~
hedora
You do have to defend Trademarks, but only in egregious cases. According to
the article you linked, you can lose a trademark if it becomes a generic term
(zipper, xerox a document, etc), or you completely stop using it for multiple
years.

So, there are some nuances. However, courts have repeatedly ruled you do not
need to levy lawsuits at everyone that uses your trademark.

In fact, if your defense is so egregiously over-aggressive, you may be liable
due to misuse of trademark.

Unfortunately, while they could do so in theory, the US has never revoked a
trademark in such cases.

If they started doing that, it would put an end to SLAPP trademark suits, and
a lot of lawyers would be out of work.

~~~
laumars
It’s worse than that, because overly aggressive defence of trademarks isn’t
punished yet not defending it _could_ theoretically cost a business their
trademark, it skews the system so, for businesses, it’s more beneficial to be
aggressive.

(I certainly wouldn’t want to be the person that said “their fine to use our
trademark. We have nothing to worry about” only to unexpectedly end up losing
the trademark)

------
mtVessel
I never apologized...I only signed a legal agreement that allowed an apology
to be issued in my name.

Christ, what an asshole.

~~~
happytoexplain
Wow, I'm shocked by your anger. His disowning the petty concept of a legal
apology written in his name seems totally reasonable, mostly because the
recipient is _the UFC_ , and not an individual who suffered any kind of
legitimate harm.

~~~
mtVessel
OK, maybe I was a little harsh. But it doesn't matter who the aggrieved party
is. He took an action, and now he's trying to weasel out of it by saying, in
effect, "yeah, but I had my fingers crossed behind my back, so it doesn't
count."

I am reacting to his utter inability to take responsibility for his actions.

------
moneywoes
Anyone know how he got caught

~~~
tyingq
I don't know how he was caught, but he did do an interview that explained the
tools and methods he was using: [https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-debut-super-
smooth-video-to...](https://torrentfreak.com/pirates-debut-super-smooth-video-
torrents-130428/) (His online name is "Secludedly").

------
techntoke
So they want people to pay for the crap that is UFC? You couldn't pay me to
watch it. Watching people bleed all over each other and getting hit in the
head until they lose consciousness is sick and takes some sickos to enjoy
watching it.

------
Causality1
You have to be at least a little tech-savvy to capture content and upload it,
so why don't pirates take basic precautions like driving to a public access
point before uploading?

~~~
tyingq
I always assumed they would have a VPN or VPS in a country that doesn't have
to listen to the UFC.

