Day in and day out, millions of people use pirate sites and services to download or stream movies and TV shows.

In recent years, a large percentage of this activity has taken place through apps that run on Android, the dominant operating system for phones and tablets globally.

These pirate apps come and go, but over the past year, Pikashow has made quite a name for itself. Word-of-mouth advertising helped the app to break through, and after becoming the official sponsor of the Afghan cricket team during Asia Cup 2022, its profile went mainstream.

PikaShow Crackdown

That sponsorship deal should never have happened and rightsholders have been trying to put the genie back in the bottle ever since. The Motion Picture Association, for example, listed PikaShow as one of the main piracy threats in its advice to the U.S. Trade Representative.

“[T]he PikaShow app has been downloaded over 10 million times across various mobile application stores and Telegram,” MPA wrote, adding that the operator is believed to be located in India.

In India, meanwhile, police weren’t sitting around either. Last year, Disney Star referred the app to the authorities, alleging various crimes under computer abuse and copyright laws. After an initial criminal complaint failed to produce the desired result, local police eventually arrested a suspect two weeks ago.

The man, who was identified as a college student, stands accused of illegally streaming Star India and Disney+ Hotstar content via PikaShow, while monetizing those pirate streams through advertisements.

While this sounds like a major breakthrough, it’s unclear whether the suspect is indeed one of the kingpins. What we do know is that PikaShow apps remain widely available. In fact, with all the press attention, the brand may have even become more popular than before.

DMCA Takedown Collateral

This is obviously a major disappointment for rightsholders working around the clock to contain the problem. This includes sending takedown notices to Google, urging the search engine to remove infringing PikaShow-related results.

Unfortunately, these DMCA notices are not without issues. Over the past weeks, multiple anti-piracy outfits and rightsholders have tried to remove links to our PikaShow news coverage.

The notice above was sent by MarkScan on behalf of Disney. While some of the reported links may lead visitors to the pirate app, our article about the arrested student certainly doesn’t. MarkScan also sent another takedown notice that reports the same news article, asking Google to take it down.

The Indian anti-piracy outfit is a familiar name and has reported legal content before, including that of its own clients . In addition, MarkScan employees were previously arrested after they allegedly masqueraded as competing anti-piracy firm to steal clients.

More Mistakes

Unfortunately, MarkScan is not the only company reporting our news coverage as ‘copyright infringing’. The Disney-owned platform Novi Digital Entertainment also flagged the same link directly.

On top, a company with the prestigious name ‘Copyright Integrity International’ also targeted our news article, ostensibly on behalf of Cricket Australia . The same governing cricket body also decided to boycot Afghanistan matches recently, but the PikaShow sponsorship isn’t provided as a reason there.

Needless to say, we are not pleased with these inaccurate takedowns. Luckily, however, Google is not convinced by them either, as all DMCA removal requests have been rejected.

The same is true for a recent takedown request , sent on behalf of Warner Bros, that targets our news coverage on the leaked “House of the Dragon” season finale.

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

As Android-based piracy apps go, streaming app PikaShow ticks most of the usual boxes.

Compatible with smartphones, tablets and set-top boxes, PikaShow allows users to stream live TV channels in excellent quality or download the latest movies and TV shows for offline viewing.

For those with a preference for larger screens, PikaShow allows casting. Subtitles are also available, meaning that PikaShow can be enjoyed by viewers worldwide. The downside for PikaShow is that expanded reach means irritation for overseas rightsholders, not just local ones.

Disney, Star India, MPA, USTR

In 2022, the existence of the PikaShow app became intolerable for Disney Star, a wholly-owned Indian subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. After a criminal complaint to the Tamil Nadu Police Cyber Cell failed, Disney filed a First Information Report (FIR) with the Bengaluru Cyber Cell, alleging various crimes under computer abuse and copyright laws.

PikaShow didn’t shut itself down – it doubled down instead. After becoming the official sponsor of the Afghan cricket team during Asia Cup 2022, PikaShow was able to advertise its pirate streaming app via legal TV broadcasts watched by millions of people.

Describing this as a bold move would be a significant understatement.

Through its team sponsorship deal, PikaShow was able to advertise its pirate services on Star India’s official TV broadcasts of Asia Cup 2022. This meant that Disney effectively paid to advertise a pirate app it was already pursuing in a criminal action for illegally streaming its licensed content.

Adding insult to injury, PikaShow streamed Star India’s official TV broadcasts to its own users for free.

Rising Pressure, High Court Injunction

In the wake of its TV stunt, the MPA reported PikaShow to the United States Trade Representative. After targeting PikaShow in a May 2022 civil complaint, Star India filed a criminal complaint with the police in Delhi and then followed up with another copyright complaint at the High Court in Delhi.

In November 2022, the Court issued a broad injunction restraining the operator(s) of PikaShow. Companies doing business with PikaShow were ordered to hand over all available information on its operator. Registrars were told to suspend PikaShow’s domains, and every ISP in India received blocking instructions ( pdf ) .

PikaShow didn’t shut itself down. But, as the saying goes, hindsight is always 20/20.

Police Arrest College Student

On Saturday, Anoop Shetty , Deputy Commissioner of Police, North East Division , Bengaluru City, confirmed the arrest of a man in northern India in connection with the PikaShow app.

“We have arrested Shisharam Badiya from his native place Rajasthan for copyright violation based on a complaint by Star India,” Shetty said.

According to Economic Times , the suspect is a college student who was arrested after police traced his cellphone number. He stands accused of illegally streaming Star India and Disney+ Hotstar content via PikaShow and monetizing those pirate streams through advertising.

While comments on Indian discussion platforms are a mixed bag, news of the arrest doesn’t appear to be generating much sympathy. Some suggest that monetizing pirated content was the problem, while others suggest that the only mistake was not escaping with the money. One poster simply expressed sadness at students destroying their futures.

Predictably, some comments note that since apps tend to come and go, others will appear to take PikaShow’s place. Whether PikaShow survives this or not (there’s no confirmation either way), PikaShow’s ‘place’ has been under threat for a while now.

At the time of writing, there are at least 100 domains with obvious ‘PikaShow’ branding. Dozens claim to offer the official app, but a hash value comparison of various APK files tells a very different story. There are a thousand pieces of advice for staying safe online, but if a site introduces its product with a flat-out lie, things won’t get any better from there.

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

Late 2011, Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom published a promo video that surprised even the most hardened file-sharers.

Produced by Printz Board, the catchy four-minute track featured personal appearances by stars including Kanye West, Will.i.am, Kim Kardashian, Floyd Mayweather, Jamie Foxx, Alicia Keys, and Snoop Dogg.

Through carefully edited soundbites, the celebrities gave shining endorsements of Megaupload, with tens of millions watching the video, mostly on YouTube. Arriving just weeks before Megaupload was shut down by the U.S. government, it was an audacious move on a scale unlikely to be seen again.

Dotcom was rumored to have sunk more than a million dollars into that video, but it transpires that equally audacious stunts can be pulled off with a lot less.

PikaShow – Not Just Another Piracy App

PikaShow runs on most Android devices, including smartphones and tablets. It allows users to stream live TV or download movies and TV shows for use offline. PikaShow is popular worldwide thanks to its subtitle capabilities and for those who prefer bigger screens, casting is also available.

PikaShow’s biggest draw, of course, is the price. It’s currently available via free download and generates revenue from in-app advertising, some of it provided by Google according to a recent analysis .

How much PikaShow generates is unclear but when the MPA filed a complaint with the USTR in October, the Hollywood group put forward an estimate of 10 million downloads. Part of this success is likely attributable to the “smooth” and “lag-free” streams PikaShow advertises. According to the MPA, the quality can be explained as follows:

The application sources most of the content directly from the servers of copyright holders (live TV and VOD) by circumventing their technological measures and then hosts the stolen content on third party cyberlockers and user-generated content platforms.

TorrentFreak contacted PikaShow’s developer for comment on the ten million download estimate. We received no reply but considering recent developments, that wasn’t entirely unexpected.

PikaShow Markets to the Masses

The MPA believes that PikaShow’s developer can be found in India. Evidence online tends to back that up and given PikaShow’s recent stunt, location theories will remain intact.

In North America, the most popular wood vs. ball sport is baseball. While 500 million fans worldwide can’t be wrong, cricket’s two billion fans provide perspective. In India, few things are more important than cricket so when the Asia Cup 2022 cricket tournament began late August, millions of TV screens became the country’s focus.

Asia Cup 2022 drew an estimated 200 million viewers in its first week alone, with broadcasts beamed into Indian homes by Star India, a company known for its zero-tolerance approach to piracy.

These pictures, broadcast by Star India, must’ve gone down like a lead balloon.

What prompted this audacious move is unclear and since PikaShow is maintaining radio silence, we may never know the precise details. However, it appears that following negotiations with the Afghanistan Cricket Board during the tournament, “Digital Video Streaming Platform” PikaShow became the new official sponsor of the country’s national team.

At that stage Afghanistan had no chance of winning the competition but still had one remaining game on the big stage. With India as their opponents, a massive TV audience and considerable exposure for PikaShow was guaranteed.

MPA: Sponsorship Was “Controversial”

That PikaShow even considered such an outlandish scheme is remarkable, but actually going through with it raises the stakes significantly. Unsurprisingly, the Motion Picture Association is fully aware of events and describes the sponsorship deal as “controversial.”

The Board of Control For Cricket in India is probably aware too. Even if the takedown notices it previously sent to Google had been forgotten, messages the organization received on Twitter would have served as a reminder, including the helpful: “If u want live match then download pikashow app.”

Perhaps most importantly, Star India knows all about PikaShow.

Good/Bad Results From TV Stunt

According to SimilarWeb data, traffic to PikaShow’s website increased by 25% in September following its TV escapades. October’s figures were only slightly down, a suggestion that the sponsorship exercise may have boosted traffic, but not all publicity is good publicity.

In a DMCA notice sent last week to Github, Star India called PikaShow “a rogue standalone pirate application” that has plagued the industry, OTT platforms especially.

“Based on our investigation, we have found that ‘Pikashow’ is using your services for ‘app update check’ functionality on their application. Which is further indulged in the act of copyright piracy by providing unauthorized streams of digital content without consent of the copyright owner,” the company wrote.

Github responded as expected by taking the repo down but Star India is nowhere near finished.

Civil Lawsuit, Injunction, Criminal Investigation

After Star filed a copyright complaint against PikaShow at the High Court of Delhi, Justice Prathiba M. Singh responded with an injunction last week ( pdf ) directed at the country’s ISPs, numerous intermediaries supplying services to PikaShow, and PikaShow itself.

Gambling company 1XBET and Github India are required to disclose any information they hold, including payment information, bank account details, plus any contracts in place with PikaShow.

Domain name companies NameSilo, Tucows, and GoDaddy, must disable several domains (pikashows.com, strms.in, strms.one, jonahz-viccen-i-202.site, i-cdn-0.jonahz-viccen-i-202.site, cdn4506.jonahz-viccen-i-202.site) and hand over everything they hold on PikaShow’s operator. India’s ISPs must immediately block a list of PikaShow-related names.

Whether PikaShow has any regrets over these civil matters is unclear but future prospects look bleak. On October 27, 2022, Star India filed a criminal complaint against PikaShow and an investigation by Delhi Police is currently underway. A second criminal complaint, filed by Disney , has also been recorded.

The next hearing is scheduled for January 25, 2023. Whether PikaShow will still be online remains to be seen.

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

In common with other countries attempting to reduce their movie and TV show piracy problem, India has provisions in copyright law that allow rightsholders to limit access to pirate sites.

Disney has utilized this mechanism to compel ISPs to block subscriber access to pirate sites and has also obtained so-called ‘dynamic’ injunctions that allow new circumvention domains to be blocked too.

But despite all of these actions, pirates and pirate site operators often tend to be one or two steps ahead so, in some cases, rightsholders like Disney choose to file criminal complaints instead.

Disney Star Targets Several Piracy Platforms

As a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, Disney Star shares its parent company’s concerns over rampant piracy in India. So, in order to combat the threat at the street level, it is now seeking help from the authorities to dismantle several piracy platforms.

Reports indicate that four well-known piracy brands have been reported to the police – the infamous Tamil Rockers, Tamil Blasters, and Tamil MV, plus popular mobile application Pikashow.

The content distributed by these services is often obtained from theater camcorder recordings, official OTT platforms, and ther pirate sites, and then distributed via torrents, third-party file-hosting platforms, and dedicated servers.

Criminal Complaint Targets Popular Piracy Resources

Disney Star noticed that several of its Hotstar Specials were being illegally distributed by several of the targeted sites. Live TV content culled from its Star Plus, Star Gold, Star World, and Star Sports channels appeared on the Pikashow application.

The Disney-owned company then tried to register a criminal case with the Tamil Nadu cyber cell, IndianTelevision reports , but when that was unsuccessful, a decision was made to file a complaint with the Bengaluru cyber cell. That switch has proven more effective.

Disney Star has successfully registered a First Information Report (FIR) detailing alleged offenses under several laws, as follows:

Information Technology Act 2008 (Section 66) : This section has its roots in Section 43 which relates to ‘Penalty and Compensation for damage to computer, computer system’. In part, this makes it an offense for anyone to download, copy or extract any data from a computer system or network without obtaining permission from the owner.

Section 66 clarifies that if this is done dishonestly or fraudulently, a fine or prison sentence is available ( pdf ) .

Copyright Act 1957 (Section 63 and 65): Under Section 63, any person who knowingly infringes or abets the infringement of copyright in any work commits a criminal offense. Section 65 lays out that punishments for possession of tools for the purpose of making infringing copies of any copyrighted work can be fines or a prison sentence.

Indian Penal Code (Section 420): Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property can result in a fine or a prison sentence of up to seven years .

Complaint Confirmed, Two People Named

According to a copy of the Disney Star report viewed by IndianTelevision, two people (R Kumaravel and R Radhakrishnan) are personally named in the complaint, with the former an alleged resident of the Yelahanka suburb of Bengaluru city. The registration of the complaint was confirmed by Santosh Ram, station officer at the Bengaluru Police.

“The cumulative traffic on these platforms is estimated at 62 million. They mostly offer Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam content, which is leaked on their websites,” Ram said .

“Of late, they have been offering content in other languages, including Hindi. The FIR has been registered by Disney Star. We are investigating the matter.”

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