BRUSSELS – The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) welcomes the verdict from the Paris Judicial Court, which clearly confirms that the company Spliiit has violated the law with respect to ACE members Apple, Disney, and Netflix, notably by engaging in acts of complicity in violating the terms of service, unfair competition, and trademark infringement.
The court validates our members’ claim that Spliiit is engaging in the practice of illicit password selling. This is the practice by which commercial operators illegally sell or facilitate, without authorization, the sale of existing consumers’ streaming service login credentials to multiple other users, while charging those users a commission for these unauthorized transactions. The practice is not about sharing passwords with family members. It is about the violation of the individual terms of service put forth by each content owner and streaming service. The Court held in this regard that “the sharing of subscriptions to services offered by Apple, Netflix, and Disney with third parties, engaged exclusively for the purpose of such sharing, constitutes a violation by the holders of these subscriptions of the terms and conditions of the contracts binding them.”
“We thank the Paris Judicial Court and our enforcement and industry partners for this important ruling,” said Karyn Temple, Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel for the Motion Picture Association. “Services that turn subscription credentials into a marketplace exploit creators, consumers, and legitimate platforms. This ruling reinforces that unauthorized access and credential abuse have real consequences, and it strengthens the fair, secure digital marketplace that lawful services depend on.”
ACE remains fully committed to protecting consumers from illicit password sellers who seek to mislead the public about the legality of their services. The Court finds in this regard that by contributing to the creation of an illicit market for its own profit by stating that the service “ ‘does not infringe copyright and does not violate the platforms’ terms of service,’ Spliiit provided consumers with general information that is inaccurate, particularly regarding the services offered by Apple, Netflix, and Disney“. The Court considers that Spliiit has therefore substantially altered consumers’ economic behavior with respect to said services by encouraging them to use its platform for connecting individuals for the purpose of sharing subscriptions.
ACE members have initiated this legal action as part of an approach to support the growth of the legal marketplace for creative content, reduce unauthorized access to creative works, protect the hard work and livelihoods of the millions of people who work in the creative economy, and to serve content to consumers in a safe environment without malware.
For more information, please visit www.alliance4creativity.com.
About The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment
The Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) is the world’s leading coalition dedicated to protecting the legal creative market and reducing digital piracy. Driven by a comprehensive approach to addressing piracy through criminal referrals, civil litigation, and cease-and-desist operations, ACE has achieved many successful global enforcement actions against illegal streaming services and unauthorized content sources and their operators. Drawing upon the collective expertise and resources of more than 50 media and entertainment companies around the world—including sports channels and associations – and reinforced by the Motion Picture Association’s content protection operations, ACE protects the creativity and innovation that drives the global growth of core copyright and entertainment industries. The current governing board members for ACE are Amazon, Apple TV, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures, Universal Studios, The Walt Disney Studios, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Charles Rivkin is Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and Chairman of ACE.
MPA Media Contact – EMEA:
Sabine Henssler
Sabine_henssler@motionpictures.org
ACE Media Contact – U.S./LATAM:
Pamela Corante
pamela_corante@motionpictures.org
