This seizure of six copyright-infringing websites is part of the Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to fight copyright infringement.
According to the unsealed court records, the U.S. was authorized by the court to seize the domain names pending forfeiture. The domains are Corourbanos.com, Corourbano.com, Pautamp3.com, SIMP3.com, flowactivo.co and Mp3Teca.ws.
Law enforcement stated that these domains were used to distribute copyright-protected music without authorization. The investigation confirmed that users were able to stream or download copyrighted music on all six websites.
This government seizure of domains prevents third parties from downloading or streaming copyrighted material from these websites. Visitors will now see a message stating that the site was seized by federal authorities, and they will then be redirected to a different site for information.
Attorneys from the Criminal Division of the Justice Department and Eastern District of Virginia, in addition to the HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge in Washington, D.C. announced the action.
This special operation, titled Operation 404.4, is a collaboration between many different governmental agencies in the U.S., U.K. and Brazil. This includes the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Virginia; the Government of Brazil’s Public Security Cyber Laboratory and Ministry of Justice; various Brazilian State police forces; HSI in Washington, D.C., HSI Attaché Brasilia in Brazil; and the Department of Justice International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (ICHIP) Advisor, based in São Paulo. Other agencies involved in this major seizure operation were the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center; the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS); the Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT); the U.K. Intellectual Property Office; and the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Withers represents the U.S. government In these copyright infringement and seizure matters.