Before Mayweather and Pacquiao, it's HBO and Showtime vs. pirate sites
The upcoming "Fight of the Century" has ridiculously expensive PPV prices, but if you want to watch it live, you might have to let that benjamin go. HBO and Showtime, which paired up for the fight, have already started suing websites planning to illegally livestream the event. The duo and the promoters of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao are specifically going after boxinghd.net and sportship.org. Both websites have been advertising free access to the fight for quite a while now, as you can see in the images above and below the fold. Torrentfreak calls it a "unique pre-piracy case," because lawsuits don't usually start flying until the accused has actually pirated something.
"This lawsuit arises from Defendants' anticipated knowing and intentional violation of the federal Copyright Act," the filing states. It also says that the plaintiffs will incur "irreparable damage" (of the monetary kind, we're sure) if the pirate streams go live as planned. The companies want the court to issue the websites a preliminary injunction. They also want internet providers to block both URLs from 8:45 p.m. on May 2nd to 6 a.m. on May 3rd.
We'll bet the two websites named in the lawsuit aren't the only ones planning to stream the event without permission. There are loads of similar online destinations out there, and everyone expects the event to be one of the most pirated in history. We haven't caught wind of more lawsuits at this point, but we wouldn't be surprised if HBO's and Showtime's lawyers are preparing to file more as we type. Now, if $89 to $100 (HD) still feel like too much money, you can always look for a friend who just signed up for DISH and got (legal) access to the fight for free.
[Image credit: HBO-Showtime lawsuit]
