Downloading audio and video from YouTube is generally not allowed, which the video streaming service clearly states in its terms of service.

Despite this explicit restriction, there are numerous ‘stream-ripping’ and “YouTube downloader” tools available on the web that do just that.

These ripping tools can be used to convert YouTube music videos into MP3s for example. This is seen as a major problem by the music industry, which has and is taking legal steps in response.

Specifically, music companies argue that using these stream-ripping tools violates the DMCA, as it circumvents YouTube’s copyright protection technology. This ‘rolling cipher’ can be bypassed relatively easily , but it prevents regular users from downloading videos from YouTube directly.

Creator vs. Creator

The ‘rolling cipher’ accusations are not limited to the music industry. They can also be used in other contexts, including a creator vs. creator battle. This is the case in Cordova v. Huneault, which revolved around the legality of “reaction” and “commentary” channels.

The implications could be significant. Reaction and commentary videos have become a massive part of YouTube’s ecosystem, with countless creators building entire channels around responding to, critiquing, or mocking other people’s content.

Many of these creators rely on downloading clips from other channels, often using third-party tools that bypass YouTube’s protections, to incorporate into their videos. While fair use is often cited as a defense, this case suggests that DMCA circumvention liability comes into play, regardless of whether their final use qualifies as fair.

Without going into the nature of the videos, the lawsuit pits Christopher Cordova ( Denver Metro Audits ) against Jonathan Huneault ( Frauditor Troll Channel ). Cordova alleged that Huneault didn’t just use his copyrighted footage without permission, but that he also used “ripping” tools to bypass YouTube’s technical protection to get it.

The defense disagreed with this argument and requested dismissal. They argued that, because the videos are publicly viewable on YouTube, there is no “access control” to speak of. Additionally, the defense pointed out that there is no evidence that ripping tools were used, pointing out that the defendant and many others have used screen recording to copy content.

After hearing both sides, U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi denied the motion to dismiss the DMCA circumvention claims, allowing the case to move forward on that claim.

“Mr. Cordova has adequately pled that YouTube applies technological measures, including ‘rolling-cipher technology’ designed to prevent unauthorized downloading, to videos published on its platform that effectively control access to his videos for purposes of § 1201(a).”

“Whether the videos may be viewed by the public is immaterial; the [complaint] refers to technological measures intended to prevent unauthorized downloading,” Judge DeMarchi adds.

Caution: Reaction Channels

While the survival of the §1201 claim may seem like a mere technicality in a case that has yet to be fully litigated, it is rather significant. By accepting that the “rolling cipher” effectively controls access to the downloadable file, the court gives creators who want to sue rivals an option to sue for more than just simple copyright infringement.

For years, reaction creators have operated under the assumption that, if their commentary is fair use, the way they acquired the footage doesn’t matter. However, Judge DeMarchi’s decision suggests otherwise.

Essentially, it means that commentary and reaction channels, which are widespread, face potential liability for DMCA violations if they use ripping tools that bypass YouTube’s protections.

“No Harm, No Foul”?

The legal teams are now sharply divided on what the circumvention claims mean for the case going forward.

In a statement to TorrentFreak, defense lawyer Steven C. Vondran dismisses the circumvention claims as a tactical maneuver that may eventually fall apart, as his client didn’t use a ripping tool. The attorney further argued that, if the “reaction” video of his client is fair use, there is no “injury” or harm.

“If fair use rights apply, and if there is no cognizable injury, then what would be their grounds to have proper standing?” Vondran asked.

“Plaintiff is arguing that Defendant used ripping tools to circumvent YouTube’s content protection technology to obtain video clips,” Vondran told us. “In fact, this was not the case, but it seems anyone can allege this in a lawsuit and be able to go through discovery to see if they can find the use of these tools.”

The defense shifts the focus and counters that the plaintiff has no right to sue in the first place, because there is no harm. Vondran argues that if the final “reaction” video is fair use, then the original creator hasn’t been “injured” just because someone downloaded a clip.

Plaintiff’s attorney Randall S. Newman hit back, telling TorrentFreak that circumventing copy protections under §1201 of the DMCA, is a separate violation that is unaffected by a fair use finding.

“The injury flows from the act of bypassing technological protection measures themselves, not from the outcome of a fair-use defense asserted after the fact,” Newman says, adding that the question of whether a ripping tool was used will be answered during discovery.

While the order of the motion to dismiss is significant, for this case it means little more than that the case can now move ahead to the discovery phase, after which it will be argued on its merits. The allegations that the defendant used ripping tools to download videos will have to be backed up by evidence then.

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A copy of the order handed down by U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia K. DeMarchi of the Northern District of California last month is available here (pdf) .

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Last month, we reported on an expanded class-action lawsuit in which several authors accused NVIDIA of using millions of pirated books to train its AI models.

The complaint cited internal emails showing that NVIDIA contacted Anna’s Archive seeking “high-speed access” to the shadow library’s massive collection. After being warned about the illegal nature of the materials, NVIDIA executives allegedly gave the “green light” to proceed.

Now, NVIDIA has fired back with a comprehensive motion to dismiss, calling the authors’ allegations speculative, vague, and legally insufficient.

Contact With ‘Anna’ Isn’t Enough

At the California federal court, NVIDIA argues that the authors’ complaint is built on speculation rather than facts.

While the complaint shows evidence suggesting that NVIDIA contacted Anna’s Archive about potentially accessing “millions of pirated materials,” NVIDIA points out a crucial gap: the authors never actually allege that NVIDIA downloaded their specific books from the shadow library.

“The only plausible facts alleged about Anna’s Archive are that NVIDIA ‘contacted Anna’s Archive’ about unspecified data, Anna’s Archive asked NVIDIA to confirm, and
NVIDIA gave the “green light” to ‘proceed’.”

“The mere fact that NVIDIA was in contact with representatives from Anna’s Archive does not mean that NVIDIA obtained Plaintiffs’ works from Anna’s Archive. It’s equally plausible NVIDIA did not,” the motion states.

The chip giant notes that the authors rely heavily on allegations made “upon information and belief”. This is a legal phrase that essentially means that it is an educated guess, rather than a statement that can be backed up with evidence.

Anna’s Archive ‘Backs’ NVIDIA

It’s worth noting that after our original coverage, AnnaArchivist weighed in on Reddit , stating they have not been in direct contact, suggesting the company may have used an intermediary.

“We’ve never dealt with Nvidia directly, so they likely used an intermediate party to avoid legal issues. But if Nvidia were to contact us directly, we’d happily provide them with high speed access in exchange for a donation,” the site’s representative wrote.

Whether this clarification helps or hurts the authors’ case remains to be seen. In any case, NVIDIA does not mention it in its motion to dismiss.

Catch-All Fishing Expedition

Aside from the Anna’s Archive rebuttal, NVIDIA describes the amended complaint as a fishing expedition that includes “improper catch-all allegations” that target virtually every AI model and dataset the company has ever worked with.

The original complaint focused narrowly on the NeMo Megatron model family and the Books3 dataset. But the amended version now references unidentified “NVIDIA LLMs,” unnamed “internal models,” undefined “NextLargeLLM” models, and unspecified “other shadow libraries.”

Shortly after filing their updated complaint, the authors sent new discovery requests targeting these new models and datasets.

“Plaintiffs’ bid for limitless discovery is confirmed by the blizzard of discovery requests they served after filing,” NVIDIA writes, as further evidence for the alleged fishing expedition.

No Proof Books Were Actually Used

In addition to Anna’s Archive, the amended complaint also adds various other shadow libraries, including Bibliotik, LibGen, Sci-Hub, Z-Library, and Pirate Library Mirror.

However, according to NVIDIA, the complaint lacks proof that the company downloaded the authors’ books. Similarly, it argued that there is no evidence that specific books or datasets were used to train LLMs.

For example, for the Nemotron-4 models, the authors simply speculated that because the training dataset was large and contained books, it must have included their works. NVIDIA dismissed this line of reasoning, noting that speculation is not enough.

“[T]he absence of factual allegations that the data used to train Nemotron-4 15B and Nemotron-4 340B included Plaintiffs’ works requires dismissal as to those models,” the motion to dismiss reads.

NVIDIA Requests Dismissal

All in all, NVIDIA wants the court to dismiss all the expanded claims, including the addition of the new models, the new shadow libraries, and the alleged communication with Anna’s Archive.

The company further argues that the contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims should be dismissed completely, as there is no evidence that specific books were pirated.

Notably, the direct copyright infringement claim, which alleges that NVIDIA used the Books3 database to train its NeMo model, is not covered by the motion. NVIDIA plans to defeat that during trial or on summary judgment, likely through a defense that relies heavily on fair use.

—

A copy of NVIDIA’s motion to dismiss is available here (pdf) . It is scheduled for a hearing on April 2, 2026, before Judge Jon S. Tigar in Oakland, California.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Pirate sites and services can be a real challenge for rightsholders to deal with. In India, however, recent court orders have proven to be quite effective.

Indian courts have issued pirate site blocking orders for over a decade. Initially, these orders were relatively basic, requiring local Internet providers to block specific domain names. However, these early orders have evolved quite a bit since then.

In 2023, several Hollywood studios obtained a seminal court order that significantly expanded the scope. In addition to requesting Indian Internet providers to block pirate sites, it also required domain registrars to “lock and suspend” the domain names while sharing registrant data with the rightsholders.

This broad Delhi court order became a new standard going forward. American rightsholders used it against a wide variety of pirate sites and, through this Indian route, they targeted American domain registrars such as Namecheap and Porkbun. Effectively, the Delhi High Court now has the power to take domains offline worldwide.

U.S. Rightsholders Praise Indian Model

Thus far, U.S. rightsholders have not commented in great detail on these Indian efforts. However, the International Intellectual Property Alliance ( IIPA ), which represents the interests of prominent rightsholder groups, including the MPA and RIAA, recently highlighted it.

IIPA makes its remarks in its annual “ Special 301 ” recommendation to the U.S. Trade Representative ( USTR ). This inquiry allows rightsholders to flag shortcomings and concerns in foreign countries.

The IIPA traditionally sees India as a problematic country, and this year it also recommends the USTR put it on the Priority Watch List. However, there is praise too, especially for the site-blocking efforts.

The “lock and suspend” orders, in particular, have helped to (temporarily) take out hundreds of pirate sites. This includes targets such as Animeflix, Vegamovies Fmovies , SFlix, VidSrc , and many others .

“To date, more than 400 piracy domains have been completely wiped from the Internet, representing billions of global piracy visits,” IIPA writes.

“Rights holders are encouraged by the Delhi High Court’s progressive understanding of the technologies involved in modern digital piracy and its resolve to grant creative relief to truly tackle piracy on a global scale.”

Effective Disruption

IIPA notes that these court orders are “unusually disruptive for pirate operators”. This is in part because they target domain names through U.S. domain registrars. This means that the impact of these court orders is felt globally.

Also, since the domain registrars are required to share the personal details of the domain registrants, these orders can help with follow-up enforcement actions.

These Delhi High Court orders have helped to tackle movie and TV-show piracy, and IIPA suggests that this is also showing in the numbers. Anime and manga are now the dominant piracy categories, with less than 30% of the top pirate sites (ex. music) focused on U.S. movies and TV content.

“This can be said to be at least in part attributable to the consistent orders being made by the Delhi High Court to disable access to all the top pirate film, TV, and streaming sites,” IIPA writes.

Additionally, IIPA highlights enforcement achievements by the local authorities. For example, the high-profile action against the alleged operator of the streaming platform iBomma, who was arrested soon after he landed at Hyderabad Airport.

More Can Be Done

Of course, IIPA’s report isn’t just a summary of positive notes. After all, the group lists India as a high-priority threat, so there is plenty of room for improvement.

“While these promising developments raise hopes that concerted actions can have a positive impact to disrupt the piracy ecosystem, more needs to be done to ensure deterrence becomes the norm to drive would-be pirates from these damaging activities,” IIPA writes.

For example, IIPA complains that some Indian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are slow to implement the blocking orders passed by the Delhi High Court and calls for tighter timelines.

In addition, not all foreign domain name registrars are complying with the Indian court orders. This means that the global reach of these orders remains limited.

Finally, since broad blocking orders are limited to the Delhi Court, rightsholders recommend replicating these state-level blocking successes nationally across all Indian states.

The site-blocking recommendations are just the tip of the iceberg, however. The IIPA recommends India to undertake a long list of actions, ranging from taking action against illegal camcording in movie theaters to improving the proposed Digital India Act by adding anti-piracy measures.

IIPA’s conclusion is that India deserves to be called out on the USTR’s “Priority Watch List” in the upcoming Special 301 Review. Whether the U.S. government agrees has yet to be seen, but it wouldn’t be a surprise, as India has consistently been marked as a priority threat in recent years.

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IIPA’s 2026 Special 301 Report on Copyright Protection and Enforcement, which includes all India references, is available here (pdf) .

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Online piracy is often associated with entertainment, such as movies, games, and music. However, there are millions pirating content for educational purposes too.

This isn’t a new phenomenon at all. Roughly two decades ago, there were already dedicated torrent sites that specialized in textbook releases. Since then, book piracy has become much more widespread.

In Denmark, local anti-piracy group Rights Alliance has had this issue on its radar for a while. In the past, the group has been tracking down individuals said to have profited from the sale of pirated textbooks. This resulted in several convictions against suppliers and sellers.

Despite these high-profile convictions, student sharing habits have remained remarkably stagnant. According to the most recent 2025 survey from Epinion , textbook sharing is widespread. Of all students who use digital textbooks, more than half (57%) have acquired at least one textbook illegally.

Most students are well aware of the fact that sharing textbooks, either online or offline, is illegal. Regardless, the survey found that 74% of the students nonetheless believe that it is acceptable to do so.

Anti-Piracy Group Will Sue Pirating Students

The Rights Alliance has clearly had enough of the continued popularity of textbook piracy. To send a clear message on behalf of publishers, the group will start filing lawsuits against pirating students this month.

“For many years we have tried to reach students through dialogue and information, but the effect cannot be seen in the measurements we have conducted over a seven-year period,” Rights Alliance director Maria Fredenslund says.

“When more than half are still sharing textbooks illegally, we need to send a clearer signal. There must be consequences if the law is broken – just like in all other areas of society.”

The Rights Alliance plans to file civil lawsuits based on the local Copyright Act and will focus on cases where it is clear that the textbook sharing is illegal. The anti-piracy group notes that, if found guilty, students can be ordered to pay a fine to the state.

Speaking with TorrentFreak, Rights Alliance said that these fines are estimated to be several thousand Danish kroner (1000DKK = 160USD), in part dependent on how much textbooks are shared.

‘Zero Tolerance’

People who share dozens of books are understandably risking a higher fine than those who share a single copy. However, Rights Alliance stresses that there’s a zero-policy stance, as even a single instance of unlawful sharing is enough to trigger a lawsuit.

Crucially, this is not a traditional “settlement” scheme. The Rights Alliance confirmed to TorrentFreak that they are not seeking damages or private settlements. There is no profit motive; the goal is simply to force a cultural change through the court system.

Rights Alliance preferred not to tell us how many students it expects to target. Similarly, the anti-piracy group did not want to mention which platforms or services are monitored to gather evidence. Instead, it simply said that it maintains an active presence on multiple platforms and in various groups.

The publishers believe that if textbook piracy continues at the current pace, there might not be a market for Danish textbooks in the future. This is not just a problem for publishers but also for educational institutions, which are asked to help teach their students about these concerns.

“We do not want to punish individuals, but to create a cultural change where students understand that illegal sharing has consequences,” Fredenslund says, adding that institutions are also encouraged to sanction copyright infringement under their roof.

In closing, it’s worth stressing that the textbook ‘piracy’ problem isn’t just limited to students. The Danish Epinion survey found that for students who received an illegal book via their official study intranet, 37% received the file directly from their teachers, lecturers, or professors.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

No other country in Europe generates as much noise around physical anti-piracy crackdowns as Italy, where ‘boots-on-the-ground’ operations have become a regular occurrence.

While the number of affected users doesn’t always seem to add up , it is clear that Italy can and is willing to take action, where other countries do not see IPTV as a priority.

This week, the local authorities announced another major crackdown. Led by the District Prosecutor’s Office of Catania and the Italian Postal Police, “ Operation Switch Off ” involved raids in 11 Italian cities and 14 countries, including the UK, India, Canada, and Romania.

Operation Switch Off

With support from Eurojust, Europol, and Interpol, the operation dismantled a global network allegedly generating between €8 million and €10 million in illicit revenue every month. Authorities say that they identified 31 key suspects and reportedly disconnected more than 125,000 users in Italy alone, with millions more affected globally.

While the police press release does not mention any names , several sources confirm that the popular IPTV services IPTVItalia, DarkTv, and migliorIPTV are affected. In addition, reseller panels and associated Telegram accounts have been taken offline.

A “Preventive” Strike for the Winter Olympics?

The timing of the raids is also worth highlighting. While the police do not mention the Olympics, this preventive strike a week before the opening ceremony certainly does not hurt.

Coincidence or not, the crackdown can also be seen as a proactive measure to secure the broadcasting market. Italy’s Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, directly connected the operation to the Olympics.

“I thank the State Police, the Catania Prosecutor’s Office, and the international authorities for the results achieved by this raid, which is particularly significant less than ten days before the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics,” Abodi said .

While this week’s actions are new, the evidence is not. According to Italian tech outlet DDay.it , the investigation was fueled by forensic analysis from “ Operation Taken Down ” in November 2024.

Investigators spent over a year mining data from the seized devices, tracking cryptocurrency flows, and monitoring communication channels. This eventually resulted in a good overview of the broader organization, which led to the crackdown and arrests throughout this week.

International Tentacles

In addition to hardware in Italy, including a SIM farm in Naples that was used to create Telegram bots, the operation also relied on servers elsewhere. This reportedly included six servers strategically placed across Eastern Europe and an unnamed African country to evade law enforcement.

In Kosovo, a local report from Telegrafi confirms that raids also hit Pristina and the village of Zaplluxhë, where police seized computers and hard drives belonging to a suspect identified only as “P.B.”

All in all, Operation Switch Off is yet another successful Italian crackdown. Understandably, the actions received praise from local and international rightsholder groups, including ACE , which sees it as evidence that sustained cross-border cooperation in the fight against piracy pays off.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Five years ago, Bulgaria informed the U.S. authorities that it would like to shut down prominent torrent trackers such as ArenaBG, Zamunda, and Zelka.

To get that done, the Eastern European country specifically asked the U.S. Government for assistance.

Today, it appears that these shutdown plans have finally come to fruition, at least as far as the domain names go. A few hours ago, three of the largest torrent trackers became unreachable, directing users to a seizure banner.

“This domain has been seized by Homeland Security Investigations as part of an international law enforcement operation in accordance with a court order issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi,” the banner reads.

The listed law enforcement logos are, from left to right:

• U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) – United States
• Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – United States
• National IPR Coordination Center – United States
• Europol – European Union
• GDBOP (General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime) – Bulgaria
• National Investigative Service (НСлС) – Bulgaria
• State Agency for National Security (DANS) – Bulgaria
• Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Bulgaria – Bulgaria

The order issued by the Mississippi federal court purportedly compelled the domain name registrars or the domain registries to take action. With domain names linked to American domain intermediaries, this explains why it would be crucial for the U.S. to be involved.

At the time of writing, ArenaBG.com, Zamunda.net, and Zelka.org all point to seizedservers.com nameservers, which means that the domains are now controlled by the U.S. authorities.

To give an idea of the popularity of these sites, Zamunda.net was up until recently the 11th most visited website in Bulgaria with millions of monthly visitors.

In the past, Bulgaria has asked the U.S. for assistance to seize torrent tracker servers as well. However, thus far there is no information about additional enforcement actions. We have also yet to see a press release from the authorities formally confirming the action.

The authorities in Bulgaria previously said that “pre-trial proceedings were opened” against torrent trackers for “intellectual property and tax crimes.” However, it is not clear if today’s actions go beyond the domain seizures.

If the current action is limited to the domain names, the sites will likely switch to alternative ones soon enough.

—

Note: This is a breaking story, and we will continue to monitor the situation and add updates when more information comes in.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Last week, many Babato-related communities threw in the towel , following legal pressure from Kakao Entertainment.

That sealed the deal for many Batoto followers who still had hopes that the site would return to its former glory after its operator, “Larry”, suddenly disappeared last November. This disappearance was triggered by an entirely different force.

CODA Reported Bato.to Operator in China

Today, the Japanese anti-piracy group CODA steps forward as the main driver behind Bato.to’s demise. The group, which represents publishers Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan, and Square Enix, filed a criminal complaint against the alleged operator in China.

The complaint was submitted to the public security bureau of China in September 2025. After talks with CODA, the local publisher China Literature Limited filed an additional complaint, adding to the pressure.

These high-profile criminal referrals eventually led to a police raid on the suspect’s home in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The operator was detained, questioned, and eventually admitted to operating the sites.

The operator is currently out on bail awaiting a formal indictment, which has yet to be filed. Initially, Babo.to also remained operational, and CODA now noted that this was for evidence preservation purposes. Earlier this month, it finally shut down.

World’s Largest Manga Piracy Operation

It is worth stressing that this crackdown is not limited to Bato.to. The same Chinese man is also accused of running roughly 60 other manga pirate sites, including mangapark.io.

CODA notes that this effectively formed the largest manga piracy ring on the Internet, which was good for an estimated 350 million visits in May 2025.

While the criminal prosecution has yet to start, CODA issued a press release that reveals several intriguing details. For example, it notes that the operator blocked visitors from China, presumably not to upset local rightsholders and the authorities.

“The site employed geoblocking to prevent access from within China, thereby creating the appearance that no infringement was occurring domestically, while in reality attracting massive global traffic and generating substantial illicit advertising revenue,” CODA writes.

In addition, the operator reportedly confessed that the site generated significant revenue, which exceeded 400,000 RMB (~$58,000) a month at its peak.

CODA’s Detailed Investigations

Speaking with TorrentFreak, CODA notes that it was not in any way involved in the earlier reported enforcement actions by Kakao Entertainment, which focused on remaining communities on Reddit and Discord. Similarly, Kakao was not involved in the high-profile criminal referral in China.

CODA’s case originally started in the summer of 2024. At the time, the anti-piracy group signaled Bato.to as a key threat under its Cross-Border Enforcement Project (CBEP), which kicked off the investigations. This eventually identified the operator.

“Through collaboration with cybersecurity experts, including ethical hackers, CODA conducted open-source intelligence (OSINT) investigations. Upon discovering that Chinese services were being used, CODA worked with a Chinese investigative firm to identify the operator, leading to the filing of a criminal complaint with China’s public security bureau.”

Bato.to and related sites rely in large part on scanlations. These are effectively translations of manga comics in other languages. While these have always been a major concern, AI technologies have made this even easier, effectively worsening the problem.

Legal Sales Surge

According to CODA, the takedown of Bato.to and the pending criminal investigation in China are groundbreaking. They believe it will serve as a significant deterrent, and, thus far, the first signs are indeed positive.

NTT Solmare , which operates the legal ebook store Mangaplaza in the U.S., reported that its daily sales numbers doubled following Bato.to’s shutdown.

Responding to the news, CODA’s Representative Director Takero Goto thanks the Chinese and Japanese authorities for their assistance

“The closure of the world’s largest manga piracy site through criminal enforcement is highly significant for cross-border anti-piracy efforts. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Chinese authorities, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and all others involved who devoted their efforts to this case,” Goto notes.

While the effect of this massive shutdown should not be underestimated, CODA and others need to stay vigilant. New manga portals that are willing to take the risk will likely be eager to pick up millions of new visitors.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Njalla is the name for a traditional Sámi hut, specifically designed to function as a safe storage location, keeping food away from bears and other predators.

On the web, the Njalla name was adopted by a privacy-focused domain name service that helps to shield website operators from external threats, including takedown efforts and foreign court orders.

Music Industry vs. Anna’s Archive

Earlier this month, this feature of Njalla was brought to the fore again in the lawsuit Spotify and several record labels filed against Anna’s Archive . Fearing the publication of millions of scraped tracks , the music companies obtained a preliminary injunction to shut off the archive’s domain names.

The case was filed under seal to prevent tipping off Anna’s Archive . This partially worked, as the suspension of the .ORG and .SE domain names came as a surprise. However, Anna’s Archive was certainly not planning to throw in the towel.

After the federal court in New York issued an ex parte temporary restraining order on January 2, the .ORG registry suspended the official annas-archive.org domain. Around the same time, Cloudflare also complied with the court order, disabling the nameservers for the targeted domains, including annas-archive.li.

U.S. Domain Suspension Injunction

While these actions rendered several of Anna’s Archive unreachable, the .LI variant soon became accessible again. Instead of relying on Cloudflare’s nameservers, it switched to Njalla. The same also applies to the .PM and .IN domains, which were registered as a backup.

Spotify and the labels also noticed this switch to Njalla and, while the case was still under seal, they applied for a broad preliminary injunction to cover the new domains. This also included Njalla as a targeted intermediary, alongside hosting services, domain registrars, and registries.

This injunction, signed by U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff on January 16, does not only cover existing domain names but also any domain names that will be registered in the future.

To get an idea of how these domains and services are connected, TorrentFreak compiled the following non-exhaustive and unverified overview. This also includes the new .in domain that was suspended by the National Internet Exchange of India.

U.S. Courts Have Limited Jurisdiction

The U.S. court order spurred American organizations into action (.ORG registry and Cloudflare) and also helped to get the .IN domain offline. However, not all intermediaries were eager to respond. In fact, the .PM and .LI versions remain accessible today.

While none of the intermediaries would encourage piracy, it appears that they don’t automatically comply with foreign court orders either. Njalla, for example, is operated by Njalla.srl , which is based in Costa Rica, may require a local court order to take action.

We don’t know for certain that the music companies sent the injunction to all named intermediaries involved, but given the gravity of their concerns, that would make sense.

To get more clarity, we asked Njalla for a comment on the situation, but due to privacy issues, it could not share any further information at this stage. The company did note that, generally speaking, it’s not against sharing culture.

“Since we are privacy focused people it is not possible for us to comment on this. However, we can say that we in general think the world becomes a better place when people share what they have with each other, be it food, water, money or culture.”

We also contacted the Switzerland-based Switch Foundation , which is the registry for the .LI domain, but did not receive a reply. Spotify, which previously responded to our inquiries, has also stopped responding.

AFNIC Confirms Jurisdiction Challenge

The AFNIC registry did respond to our request for clarification. The company is not mentioned in the injunction directly, but as the ‘registry of record’ for the .PM domain name, it should be covered.

AFNIC informs us that they have not received a request to comply with the injunction, nor have they been informed about the court order. However, even if it were to receive the U.S. injunction, AFNIC clarified that it would not comply.

“Decisions from U.S. courts are not directly applicable to Afnic regarding actions concerning .fr domain names or the French overseas extensions under its jurisdiction. To be enforceable, a foreign decision must be recognized by the French court,” an Afnic spokesperson informed us.

This effectively means that the plaintiffs must hire French counsel and petition a French court to recognize the U.S. judgment under Article 509 of the French Civil Code.

Whether Spotify and the music companies plan to go through this trouble is unknown. Anna’s Archive, meanwhile, has disabled the Spotify torrent downloads until further notice, which may have defused the situation somewhat.

That said, thus far the music industry’s enforcement efforts show that the reach of U.S. courts has its limitations. While it is possible to expand the scope through mutual legal assistance requests in foreign courts, these have yet to surface.

At this stage, the music industry doesn’t appear to know who is behind the site. The RIAA previously discovered that “Cyberdyne S.A.” was the registrant for the .se domain. However, that trace doesn’t appear to lead anywhere either.

“‘Cyberdyne’ is also the name of the fictional technology company in the ‘Terminator’ movie series behind the ‘Skynet’ artificial intelligence network that achieved super intelligence and self-awareness, leading to nuclear devastation,” RIAA’s content protection chief informed the court, noting that this may be a fabricated name.

—

Copies of the various unsealed court documents referenced in this article are available below.

– Temporary Restraining Order (TRO)
– Declaration of Mark McDevitt (RIAA)
– Reply memorandum requesting to expand the injunction

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

For fans of manga and manhwa comics, Bato.to has been an icon for many years.

The pirate site has reportedly changed owners over the years, but through the main site and dozens of mirrors, it kept its many millions of monthly visitors on board.

Since last November, the site has not been running smoothly, however. Several moderators reported that the site’s operator, Larry, had become unreachable, which resulted in various technical problems.

Batoto Communities Shut Down

Earlier this week, the trouble appeared to worsen when the official Batoto Discord server, run by the moderation team, announced that it would shut down as well, citing legal challenges and ongoing issues with the site. This effectively confirmed that the site’s moderators were throwing in the towel.

Not much later, the official Batoto subreddit followed the same route. While it would not shut down completely, the moderators officially cut its ties with anything piracy or Batoto-related.

“Due to recent legal developments, it is clear that all activity, discussion, or support related to the former website and its services has permanently ended,” the subreddit mods wrote.

“Out of respect for creators, rights holders, and applicable laws, this subreddit will no longer be affiliated with, connected to, or associated with the website in any way.”

The seemingly obligatory mention of supporting legal services suggests that this soft shutdown was also the result of legal action. In fact, it appears that Batoto-related people and communication channels are targeted across the board.

This includes newly launched Discord channels. Only those who abide by a strict set of rules to ban any type of infringement appear to survive. This includes the newly launched Yoru reading community, which specifically prohibits illegal content, pointing people to official Webtoon and Tapas releases instead.

Kakao Entertainment Takes Credit

While it is clear that legal pressure is being applied, the source remained unmentioned. Today we can officially confirm that Kakao Entertainment is driving the action.

Through its dedicated anti-piracy enforcement arm, P.CoK, the South Korean entertainment giant is categorically targeting Bato.to and many related people and services.

The most significant blow to the operation is the identification of Bato.to’s founder and core developer. P.CoK confirmed to TorrentFreak that they have tracked the individual to their country of residence, where legal proceedings are now active.

Responding to this threat, the P.CoK team tackled the problem from multiple sides. In addition to preparing a lawsuit against the operator, it went after other key channels, including the aforementioned communities on Reddit and Discord.

“We adopted a strategy that categorizes individuals involved in the operation into multiple tiers and applies tailored countermeasures to each group. Legal proceedings are currently underway in the country of residence of the founder and core developer,” P.CoK notes.

Cease and Desist

The people in lower tiers, including admins and moderators, were also identified. These all received personalized cease-and-desist letters, urging them to shut down their operation, or else.

“We have identified the majority of individuals who are directly or indirectly involved in the operation—such as sub-developers, moderators, and community administrators—and have sequentially issued Cease and Desist (C&D) letters to them,” P.CoK told us.

These cease-and-desist notices came with the relevant legal justification and a specific set of actions these people were expected to take. That likely means showing respect for rightsholders, as we have seen in a few of the public responses.

New Targets?

A final update by the subreddit team confirms the pressure from Kakao Entertainment. Clearly worried that ‘Reddit mods could be next,’ the subreddit was set to restricted.

The subreddit also clearly distances itself from a new Batoto-‘inspired’ site that surfaced online this week.

P.CoK, which has a history of unconventional but effective anti-piracy actions , will undoubtedly keep an eye on any new sites that emerge. At the same time, it is also going after MangaPark and AniXL, which have repeatedly been linked to Batoto. In fact, the anti-piracy group notes that new legal proceedings are already being prepared.

“We are aware that some of these individuals are also involved in the operation of MangaPark and AniXL, and we are preparing strong legal actions against Mangapark as well as newly established Bato-affiliated sites,” P.CoK concludes, suggesting that their work is not done yet.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.