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Netflix, Amazon, and Hollywood Studios Shut Down Dragon Box (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the piracy-enabling-services dept.

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.

26 of 54 comments (clear)

  1. What was this? by jwhyche · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Was this just another box that streams torrents off the net and pretends that it was legal?

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    1. Re:What was this? by Xenx · · Score: 1

      Pretty much.

    2. Re: What was this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It was legal, thatâ(TM)s the problem

    3. Re:What was this? by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Was this just another box that streams torrents off the net and pretends that it was legal?

      Pretty much. Though more accurately they tried to pretend that providing hardware and software to do while charging a fee for the same was legal.

      Did they honestly think their defense ("Honest Your Honor - the customer pushes the buttons to activate our systems, it's Not Our Fault") was gonna fly? How do people this clueless manage to walk and breathe at the same time?

    4. Re:What was this? by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      I'm not sure they where that clueless. Their business motto was probably along the lines of, "Lets toss this out there and milk the masses for as much free money as we can before they shut us down." I doubt any one, other than those that bought it, though that this was legal.

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  2. Settle this? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    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.

    "Hmmmm," thought the lawyer. "If we sue, people will get mad at us, and pirate more, leading to a bigger settlement from Dragon Box."

    Who at DB thought this strategy might work?

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    1. Re:Settle this? by hey! · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

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  3. It Was Far More Than A Torrent Streamer by dryriver · · Score: 5, Funny

    Designed by Bruce Lee before his death, and kept in a secret vault since, Dragon Box was capable of turning Hollywood films with American actors into Chinese films with Chinese actors. Its a shame they shut it down. Rumors are that Ghandi, before his death, also designed a similar box. This one turns Hollywood movies into Bollywood action movies as you watch them. Look what the box does to a typical Woody Allen film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

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    1. Re:It Was Far More Than A Torrent Streamer by Xenx · · Score: 1

      I don't know whether to love you or hate you for that... probably both.

    2. Re:It Was Far More Than A Torrent Streamer by oogoliegoogolie · · Score: 1

      That clip was awesome! It's like an over the top, one man army 80's action flick but with more modern camera angles & slow-fast-mo clips. I never gave Bollywood movies much thought because everyone I watched for a bit was about some guy I dressed in gold singing to some girl, but I think I'll have to check them out after seeing this. I kid you not!

    3. Re:It Was Far More Than A Torrent Streamer by Hidyman · · Score: 1

      This is simply amazing. Black Panther and Aquaman better watch out.

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    4. Re:It Was Far More Than A Torrent Streamer by EvilSS · · Score: 1

      Found the out of work Buzz Feed writer

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    5. Re:It Was Far More Than A Torrent Streamer by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      Indeed it was. That was probably one of the best bitch slaps I've seen on film. I will have to think about giving Bollywood movies a better chance. I really couldn't take that fight scene seriously, but I have the feeling that I wasn't supposed too. That being said I was far more entertained watching that few minutes that all the Hollywood dreck that has come out last year.

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  4. Second Verse Same As The First by DeWayneDurrett · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is similar to Kodi, and how they tried to shut Kodi boxes down. Like a hydra this will multiply.

    1. Re: Second Verse Same As The First by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      I, too, remember that time. The golden age of file sharing! A great flowering of culture, a time when technology really did increase human happiness.

      Then the spirit of freedom was crushed under the iron boot of the State, the old norms of class division and cultural impoverishment restored, that the few might again benefit at the expense of the many.

    2. Re:Second Verse Same As The First by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      They were shutting down Kodi boxes being sold that had addons already installed pointing to copyrighting material.

      Even the Kodi folks were pushing for those boxes to be shut down or at least to have their trademarked name removed from the listing.

  5. summary sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    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.

  6. Re:More free stuff please! by ranton · · Score: 1

    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.

    I wonder if after you retire you would be happy if your 401k went to $0 and/or your pension vanished. Because that is what would happen in a world where previous investment was worthless and continued work was the only way to make income.

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    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  7. Wait what who? by MrLint · · Score: 1

    Is this the same rampaging jackass Paul Christoforo of the PAX twitter from 2012??
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    https://www.engadget.com/2011/...

    1. Re:Wait what who? by SunTzuWarmaster · · Score: 1

      Wow.
      https://www.penny-arcade.com/r...
      https://www.penny-arcade.com/r...

      Gotta love Penny Arcade - " I will personally burn everything I’ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames.". And its true!

      Nice to know that he stopped being mean to people via E-mail and started to make an automated-content-theft device. Really turned that one around.

  8. Re:More free stuff please! by Boronx · · Score: 1

    Because artists can't put money in a 401K?

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  9. Re: More free stuff please! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Your analogy sucks balls. Hopefully you knew that because if not you are one dumb fuck.

  10. Re:More free stuff please! by Computershack · · Score: 1

    Not if they're not getting paid because nobody is making movies other than amateur ones any more as the levels of piracy get to the point it isn't worth it.

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  11. Re: More free stuff please! by ranton · · Score: 1

    Your analogy sucks balls. Hopefully you knew that because if not you are one dumb fuck.

    The OP implied movie investors should not get paid royalties because they aren't doing any actual work after the movie is produced.
    I compared that to the dividends and other returns you would get from your 401k, in which the 401k investment is analogous to the investment of producing a movie.

    How exactly does the analogy fall apart? If you don't think movie producers should continue to make money on their investment for years/decades after their initial investment, why should a 401k investor?

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    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  12. Re: More free stuff please! by ranton · · Score: 1

    No, because it implies all investment is worthless and only labor is worth anything. It really is a horrible analogy. In such a world capital would be worth next to nothing.

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    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  13. Locast by mspohr · · Score: 1

    Check out Locast.org
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0...

    They have an app for streaming local TV. Claim it's legal since they are a nonprofit and don't allow transmission beyond the local broadcast area.
    Should be interesting to watch.

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