Pleaded Guilty and Paid a Fine: a "Pirate" Was Convicted in Zhytomyr Oblast for "Craking" Television Set-top Boxes
The "Clean Sky" Initiative participants continue to fight against media piracy actively, introducing effective practices in content protection and bringing intellectual property thieves to justice.
Thus, according to the application of the lawyers of 1+1 media, the Malinsky District Court of the Zhytomyr Region convicted a resident under Part 1 of Art. 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (unauthorized interference with the operation of information (automated) systems) for installing software for illegal viewing of broadcast programs of television channels. The offender pleaded guilty, received a criminal conviction, and paid a fine.
The bodies of the pre-trial investigation found that since 2022, a resident had been providing "Smart TV connection" services for a fee in the territory of the city of Malyn and the Malyn district of the Zhytomyr region. The impersonator advertised his services on a popular online classifieds platform, thanks to which he found new customers.
Law enforcement officers initially qualified the actions of the violator of related rights as unauthorized interference in the operation of information (automated) systems, committed during martial law (Part 5 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), that is, as a particularly serious crime, for which the law provides for long terms of imprisonment anger
Taking into account sincere remorse and active assistance in solving the crime, with the consent of the right holder, the pre-trial investigation body finally qualified the violator's actions more mildly, according to Part 1 of Art. 361, and a plea agreement was concluded with the latter, which was approved by the court. The violator was sentenced to a fine.
"We once again call on Smart TV setup masters to act within the legal framework, without infringing other people's intellectual property rights. The reward for connecting a television set-top box to a pirate portal is not worth the future problems with the law, including searches, seizure of equipment, interrogations, a court verdict, and the need to compensate copyright holders for the damages caused," urged Vyacheslav Mienko, head of the "Clean Sky" Initiative.
