TECH NEWS – Amazon‘s popular live-streaming website, Twitch got sued for a significant amount of money.

We’re not joking: three billion dollars is what Rambler Internet Holding LLC has sued Twitch for (okay, they did it in Russian rubles, but that’s still 180 billion of that). The Russian Internet portal and search engine company claims Twitch allowed piracy on its website, as they allowed United Kingdom’sny Premier League matches to be broadcasted. Rambler has spent seven million euros on the PL broadcasting rights, which is why they filed the claim at the Moscow City Court, who suspended the live streaming of the league in Russia. The first listening should happen on December 20.

Rambler estimated that 36 thousand illegal broadcasts happened on Twitch, causing five million rubles of damage per stream, resulting in a total of 180 billion. Twitch defends by saying it does provide users with a platform, but they are not responsible for the users’ viewing or streaming choices. Rambler has to prove all 36 thousand violations at court (we can’t imagine HOW they will do that, nor the time it will require…), and, according to a legal expert (via Kommersant, a Russian newspaper), they will have to provide more evidence, as screenshots won’t cut it.

Rambler is also why Nginx, an American-owned open-source web server company, had its offices raided by Russian authorities last week. Rambler filed the claims first in August, but then, they only wanted Twitch’s operations to be shut down in Russia, according to Yulianna Tabastaeva, a representative of Twitch.

If the Russian ban happens, other big companies could get on the chopping block, but suing for this much money – and for this reason – is somewhat of a joke. Other companies could follow Rambler – even if Formula-1 races get their streams suspended in minutes, another one immediately takes its place (and, frankly, the English commentary and broadcasting could be far better than the domestic one, and it has no ads either).

Source: WCCFTech

Please support our page theGeek.games on Patreon, so we can continue to write you the latest gaming, movie and tech news and reviews as an independent magazine.
Become a Patron!