Court Orders Pirate Site MissAV to Pay $4.5m in Damages, Domains Seized

This week, several domain names of the Japanese adult pirate website MissAV were redirected to seizure banners. The legal basis for these confiscations wasn't initially clear, but new information ties the action to a U.S. court order. In addition to losing their domain names, the MissAV defendants must pay $4.5 million in damages.

 With billions of annual visits, MissAV ranked among the top 60 most-visited websites on the internet.

For years, the site appeared to operate without any significant setbacks, but that changed a few days ago, when several domain names including MissAV.com and ThisAV.com were seized.

Initially, it wasn’t clear how permanent these seizures were, as the domains briefly became accessible again. However, that changed a few hours ago when the Japanese adult entertainment producer Will Co. LTD announced that these actions are backed up by a U.S. federal court order.

The company sued the foreign defendants Ka Yeung Lee, Youhaha Marketing, Promotion Limited, and several “John Does”, holding them responsible for the copyright infringing activities on MissAV.com, ThisAV.com, and several related domains.

In the early stages, the defense argued that the American court had no jurisdiction over the defendants, who are mostly linked to Hong Kong. However, the Washington District Court disagreed and allowed the case to continue.

$4.5m Default Judgment

When the defendants eventually stopped responding, the Japanese rightsholder requested a default judgment in its favor.

In addition to seeking $45 million in damages for copyright infringement, the plaintiff requested an injunction allowing it to take control of several pirate domains, including thisav.com, missav.com, myav.com, missav789.com, vassim.com, eightcha.com, and fivetiu.com.

The default judgment was granted last week, effectively putting an end to the case. Instead of the requested $150,000 for each of the 300 infringed works, the court settled on a tenth of that, bringing the total damages award to a still sizable $4.5 million.

The order (pdf)
 

Perhaps of equal importance is the injunctive relief which allowed Will Co. to take control of the domain names through the .com domain registry VeriSign. This took some time to process, but the handover is now complete with all domains pointing to a seizure banner.

Seized

Domain Seizures Send an Important Message

Anti-piracy firm Battleship Stance, which helped to orchestrate the enforcement action against MissAV and ThisAV, is happy with the outcome of the long fought legal battle.

“We are pleased with this ruling, which not only delivers justice for Will Co. but also strengthens the position of creators in their fight against international piracy,” says Jason Tucker, president of Battleship Stance.

The U.S. court order against foreign pirate sites is particularly important, as this indicates that rightsholders can take effective legal action against stubborn pirate sites.

“The transfer of these domains sends a clear message to pirate operators that they risk losing their assets when they steal content. Our commitment to defending creative works remains unwavering as we continue the fight against digital piracy,” Tucker explains.

Lead counsel for the plaintiff Spencer Freeman agrees, noting that the case shows that foreign websites with ties to the U.S. can be held accountable.

“This case sets a precedent for stronger enforcement of U.S. copyright laws against foreign entities. It underscores the importance of pursuing legal action across borders to protect intellectual property rights globally,” he says.

MissAV Remains Online

Despite the positive comments, MissAV and the related sites are not completely out of action. The site registered a new .ws domain name and continues to operate from there, not mentioning any of its legal troubles.

Jason Tucker of Battleship Stance informs TorrentFreak that they are aware of these new domains and that legal actions are already underway to prevent the further spread of pirated content.

For now, however, Will Co. is celebrating its win. And after this success in the Washington District Court, it’s likely that Will Co. and other rightsholders will try to use a similar procedure to go after more pirate sites in the future.

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