Media Group Ukraine (MGU) has won a lawsuit filed by the OTT service Divan.TV.
According to MGU, the plaintiff had intended to force it to provide its TV channels free of charge to Divan.TV.
It adds that MGU proved to Divan.TV in court that a rightholder’s refusal to share its own legal content with “pirates” does not violate the rights of “pirates” to freedom of entrepreneurial activity.
MGU points out that Divan.TV has lost several court cases initiated on the same grounds against the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, as well as a number of national Ukrainian TV channels belonging to different media groups. It also accuses Divan.TV of infringing copyright.
Divan.TV was launched in 2009 and went global last year.
It operates a TV Everywhere service and developed its own OTT middleware solution.
Meanwhile, MGU is a media holding company that manages System Capital Management Group’s TV and new media projects.
Established in 2010, its interests include the national FTA channel Ukraine; NLO TV, a channel aimed at young viewers; and the thematic channels Football 1, Football 2 and the HD version of Football 2.