Canal+ Group and Kudelski Group have shut down a piracy operation on their own doorstep.
KBoxServ, based in Canton of Vaud, in the Lake Geneva region had been illegally supplying on demand content to thousands of customers. The illegal organisation boasted a catalogue consisting of more than 77,000 TV episodes and 7,000 movies.
“Global content piracy is an increasing problem that defrauds content producers and erodes customer confidence in service providers,” said Pascal Métral, VP Legal Affairs and Head of Anti-Piracy Investigations, Intelligence and Litigation at NAGRA. “While KBoxServ has been claiming to operate in full legality, it is a true pirate broadcasting station that was dismantled today–an organization that has been broadcasting stolen premium content to thousands of users over the last years in exchange for high profits.”
IPTV devices, pre-configured to give lifetime access to supposedly protected content, were sold online and through multiple retail shops across Switzerland and France at a price of approximately CHF 150 ($160) each.
The pirated content was distributed through servers located in various European countries, including Switzerland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
It’s the first piracy shutdown of its kind in Switzerland.
