Can HBO and Showtime stop the pirates?
The Pacquiao and Mayweather match on Sunday is shaping up to be the biggest pay-per-view event yet, and both HBO and Showtime are trying to do their best to keep the monumental match off of illegal streaming sites. HBO and Showtime have joined forces and are suing websites that have actively advertised free streaming videos of the megafight happening on Saturday, US time.
The two companies have landed the opening blow by filing suit against boxinghd.net and sportship.org, which have been prominently advertising free acess to the superfight for quite a while. This is unusual because of two reasons: HBO and Showtime aren’t particularly known for taking websites or pirates to court, and companies usually threaten litigation after their stuff have already been pirated.
“This lawsuit arises from Defendants’ anticipated knowing and intentional violation of the federal Copyright Act,” the filing says. While the move is unprecedented, it might also be a moot point – pirates and illegal streamers usually set up new URLs once the original ones are taken down, and you can be sure a lot of sites aside from the two named in the suit will be offering free streams to the most anticipated bout in boxing history.
