Rambler drops Twitch lawsuit over EPL pirate video streams
Two days after the Rambler Group filed a $2.9 billion lawsuit against Twitch, the two parties have signed an out-of-court settlement today, ending their dispute, a Rambler spokesperson told ZDNet today.
Rambler said it's dropping the lawsuit with no financial compensation after Twitch provided the company with tools "necessary for fighting against piracy."
The original lawsuit was filed on Monday in a Moscow court by Rambler, one of Russia's biggest internet portals, known for its involvement in the online TV streaming market.
The Rambler Group claimed that Twitch was harboring pirated streams for English Premier League (EPL) soccer games, to which the Russian company had exclusive rights inside Russia.
Rambler demanded reparations of 180 billion rubles (almost $2.9 billion) for the losses caused by the Twitch-based pirate streams.
Shortly after news of the lawsuit emerged on Monday, Russia's telecommunications watchdog also hinted at possibly blocking Twitch inside Russia if the company was found guilty in court.
Negotiations between the two companies started immediately after Rambler filed the lawsuit, ZDNet has learned. These negotiations ended today when the two companies agreed to collaborate and fight against pirates, rather than each other.
"We are glad that we reached the common understanding and closed the trial proceedings," said Mikhail Gershkovitch, the Head of Rambler Group sport projects. "We are also grateful to Twitch for a constructive dialogue."
"Twitch as an information broker Twitch is going to perform its duties responsibly, and as it is always done in such cases, the main aim is to dismiss any violation of the rules of our service and also the removing of the illegal content," said a Twitch spokesperson.