In a new complaint filed with a federal court in California, Cloudflare is accused of contributing, aiding and encouraging copyright violations.
The company allegedly refused to terminate websites that used their services. The complaint was not submitted by Hollywood, but by two wedding dresses.
Cloudflare is one of the leading CDN services. At the same time it protects against DDoS attacks, and is used by millions websites around the world. Among them there are also thousands of pages that violate intellectual property rights, such as The Pirate Bay. This has caused major problems for the company at times, as too many copyright holders have repeatedly complained about the company's role.
Cloudflare 2016 was accused of copyright infringement by ALS Scan. The case ended in a confidential compromise this summer, but it seems that the problems were not over for the company.
The new complaint, however, does not come from the entertainment industry, but from two wedding dress manufacturers and wholesalers. It is not a typical "piracy" trial, but a case of copyright infringement that could have far-reaching consequences.
In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in California, Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero Designs argue that Cloudflare failed to shut down websites of sellers who copied their wedding dresses after too many requests. This makes Cloudflare responsible for the copyright infringements of the pages that used its services.
"Plaintiffs have filed hundreds of removal requests with CloudFlare under the Copyright Act (DMCA), but the company has refused to respond to these notices by offering its services to infringers," the complaint said.
Therefore, CloudFlare is responsible for the violations committed by its customers.
Websites selling counterfeit products are nothing new problem. Τα τελευταία χρόνια η American Bridal & Prom Industry Association has filed lawsuits against hundreds of websites, resulting in over 1.500 domains being shut down.
What is new, however, is that wedding dress manufacturers are now trying to appoint a third party broker. Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero report that Cloudflare "protects pirated sites from legal action by copyright holders" and that they are "unable or unwilling to remove any copyrighted content."
Finally, Mon Cheri Bridals and Maggie Sottero are seeking compensation for the losses they have suffered, as well as the exclusion of all offending activities.
It should be noted that the case may have nothing to do with the complaints on pirated websites, however a conviction could be used as "doomed" by the entertainment industry, which is closely monitoring its progress.
See the complaint at PDF who uploaded TorrentFreak.
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