SR 50,000 Fines, 6 months Jail to a Torrent User – Be Careful!

A complaint has been launched against a pirated website owner for the violation of piracy laws. The Abu Dhabi Court has found him guilty that the administrator of a pirate website was using a material with copyrights illegally.

He was uploading torrents and providing illegal streaming of copyrighted TV series, movies and mis-using premium television platform and hence violating the OSN’s intellectual property rights such as copyrights, patents, and trademarks.

OSN filed a complaint against a torrent user

• OSN filed a complaint against a torrent user
• How does Torrent Work?
• What is the punishment of uploading torrent?

OSN is Orbit Showtime Network, it is a direct-broadcast satellite television provider in all over the MENA (The Middle East and North Africa). OSN filed a complaint to Abu Dhabi police station against the torrent uploader.

The police investigated the matter and send the complaint with evidence to the public prosecutor to file a criminal case against him. The public prosecutor prepared the charge of a criminal offense against the pirate. To satisfy the merits of justice, a technical expert was specially hired by the court to help in the hearings. 

How does Torrent Work?

Before going further, let’s try to understand how does Torrent work. We download files from Torrent but torrent does not have a server. How do we download it if it does not have a server?

We download it from other peers, other people (seeder, leecher) who have the torrent file in their computer and they are sharing it with others.

The expert was present in the court during hearings, he himself went through the evidence presented in the court and cross-questioned the defense counsel of accused. 

What is the punishment of uploading torrent?

The court has given its decision based on facts and evidence presented by the technical expert in his report. The courts passed judgment against the pirate which is six months of imprisonment in jail and to deport him to his home country once his sentence is completed.

To compensate for the damage caused to the OSN due to copyright and trademark infringement, the court also ordered the pirate to pay 50 thousand Dirham to OSN.

The court further instructed the public prosecutor’s office to block the pirate website with the help of TRA (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority). At first, the pirate was sent to jail for about two months and has since appealed the decision.

According to the International Data Corporation, the estimate of losses caused by the content and consumer product creation industries every year is more than 750 million dollars in the Middle East and Africa only.