Netflix, Amazon, movie studios sue over TickBox streaming device

Movie studios, Netflix, and Amazon have banded together to file a first-of-its-kind copyright lawsuit against a streaming media player called TickBox TV.

The complaint (PDF), filed Friday, says the TickBox devices are nothing more than “tool[s] for mass infringement,” which operate by grabbing pirated video streams from the Internet. The lawsuit was filed by Amazon and Netflix Studios, along with six big movie studios that make up the Motion Picture Association of America: Universal, Columbia, Disney, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros.

“What TickBox actually sells is nothing less than illegal access to Plaintiffs’ copyrighted content,” write the plaintiffs’ lawyers. “TickBox TV uses software to link TickBox’s customers to infringing content on the Internet. When those customers use TickBox TV as Defendant intends and instructs, they have nearly instantaneous access to multiple sources that stream Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works without authorization.”

The device’s marketing materials let users know the box is meant to replace paid-for content, with “a wink and a nod,” by predicting that prospective customers who currently pay for Amazon Video, Netflix, or Hulu will find that “you no longer need those subscriptions.”

The lawsuit shows that Amazon and Netflix, two Internet companies that are relatively new to the entertainment business, are more than willing to join together with movie studios to go after businesses that grab their content.

TickBox is powered by Android 6.0, along with Kodi, an open source media player software. The box doesn’t host any content but rather searches the Internet for streams that it can make available to users.

User searches for copyrighted content on a TickBox will lead to unauthorized pirate streams. The MPAA makes that point in the complaint, which describes how it was easy to find a stream of the movie War for the Planet of the Apes in September 2017. The movie wasn’t authorized for in-home viewing of any kind at that time.

A TickBox TV customer could simply select the “In Theaters” category and be presented with a variety of movies that aren’t authorized for in-home viewing of any kind. As the complaint explains, the user is then presented with a variety of current 2017 releases, including Fox’s War for the Planet of the Apes, the third listed title. On September 11, 2017, 44 pirated streams of the movie were available to TickBox users, even though Fox had not authorized the movie for in-home viewing of any kind.

“Every movie and TV series”

If TickBox actually were to step up and defend this lawsuit, it would be an interesting battle in the copyright wars. In a way, it’s just the newest iteration in a long line of technology products that can be used for infringing or non-infringing purposes. One can get a sense of TickBox’s defense by reading even the first few lines of text on its website, which loudly proclaim the product’s legality.

“Tickbox TV is legal,” the site’s front-page Q&A reads. “Tickbox TV is only a directory or library of content which is hosted by third parties on the internet… it does not download anything. Tickbox TV does not condone parties who pirate or download copyrighted media and this box is not to be used for such purposes. Tickbox TV is 100% legal. It is legal to stream content. It is illegal to download copy written material.” (Emphasis in original.)

Further down, the Q&A asks: “What TV shows and movies can I see for free?” The answer:

You can see almost every movie and TV series ever made. You can even access movies and shows that are still on Demand and episodes of TV that were just aired. You will never pay to watch any of them.

Since the beginning of the Internet era, using a “see no evil, hear no evil” defense to copyright infringement allegations has rarely worked out in court. Copyright holders have successfully argued that even content-neutral services, like Grokster and search engines like TorrentSpy, were “inducing” copyright infringement based on things like their marketing materials. Link sites and cyberlockers have also tried versions of the same defense, basically arguing that they’re just searching out whatever’s out there online hosted by someone else. It hasn’t worked.

The few facts laid out in the complaint and on Tickbox’s website don’t look promising for the company’s defense. Tickbox software advertises, and apparently curates, an “In Theaters” category that includes mostly (likely all) content that’s not authorized for free Internet streaming. It specifically suggests customers can drop subscriptions to pay services like Netflix, which doesn’t authorize any of its content to be streamed by non-customers.