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Netflix, Amazon, and Hollywood Studios Shut Down Dragon Box (arstechnica.com)
The entertainment industry has shut down Dragon Media Inc.'s "Dragon Box" device, which connects to TVs and lets users watch video without a cable TV or streaming service subscription. According to Ars Technica, the company has "agreed to shut down the Dragon Box services and pay $14.5 million in damages to plaintiffs from the entertainment industry." From the report: Dragon Media was sued in January 2018 by Netflix, Amazon, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros. Dragon Media's lawyer initially predicted that the lawsuit would backfire on the entertainment industry, but the Dragon Box maker must have decided it had little chance of winning at trial. The plaintiffs and defendant filed a proposed settlement Monday at U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The settlement requires Dragon Media to "cease all operation of the Dragon Box system" and related services within five days. Under the settlement, "[j]udgment shall be entered against Defendants and in favor of Plaintiffs on Plaintiffs' claims of copyright infringement, and damages shall be awarded to Plaintiffs in the amount of U.S. $14,500,000," the document says. Dragon Media, Dragon Media owner Paul Christoforo, and reseller Jeff Williams "[s]hall be further enjoined from operating any website, system, software, or service that is substantially similar to the Dragon Box service," the settlement says. The settlement also prohibits the defendants from making its source code or other technology available to others.
The settlement requires Dragon Media to "cease all operation of the Dragon Box system" and related services within five days. Under the settlement, "[j]udgment shall be entered against Defendants and in favor of Plaintiffs on Plaintiffs' claims of copyright infringement, and damages shall be awarded to Plaintiffs in the amount of U.S. $14,500,000," the document says. Dragon Media, Dragon Media owner Paul Christoforo, and reseller Jeff Williams "[s]hall be further enjoined from operating any website, system, software, or service that is substantially similar to the Dragon Box service," the settlement says. The settlement also prohibits the defendants from making its source code or other technology available to others.
Just like a plumber gets $1 every time a toilet he installed gets flushed and electricians get 10 cents every time a circuit they installed is used. What? No? Weird. Some people have to continue to work to get paid? Unreal.
There's no indication that anyone at DB actually believed they could win. You can't take a lawyer's public statement as representative of what he's saying to his client or what the client himself thinks.
If I were to hazard a guess, I suspect the people behind this were gambling that they could fly under the radar screen long enough to make a quick buck then close up shop. It's not like it takes a lot of up front investment to throw open source software onto a commodity set top box and then point it at some servers tracking pirated content.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Every PC that has been connected to a TV has let the users watch video without a cable TV or streaming service subscription.
Your summary sucks slashdot.