By Naveen Athrappully
Final judgments for five men accused of operating “one of the largest illegal television streaming services” in the United States were issued on Monday, with the individuals having already been sentenced to probation and prison terms of up to 84 months, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a July 22 statement.
Defendants in the case operated Jetflicks, a subscription-based site that allowed users to stream or, at times, download copyrighted content, with the service never having secured permission from the copyright holders, according to the DOJ.
They used automation to scour sites hosting pirated content, downloaded it, processed and stored it, and eventually made it available “to tens of thousands of paid subscribers” across the United States, said the department. Episodes of popular shows were often made available for streaming or download a day after their original airing date.
“At one point, Jetflicks claimed to have 183,285 different television episodes, significantly more than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, Amazon Prime, or any other licensed streaming service,” it said.
“This was the largest internet piracy case—as measured by the estimated total infringement amount and total number of infringements—ever to go to trial as well as the first illegal streaming case ever to go to trial.”
According to the DOJ, the defendants’ conduct harmed every major copyright owner of a television program in America, with owners losing millions of dollars.
Defendants in the case are Kristopher Lee Dallmann, 42; Peter H. Huber, 67; Jared Edward Jaurequi, also known as Jared Edwards, 44; Felipe Garcia, 43; and Douglas M. Courson, 65. All were from Las Vegas, Nevada, with one being a German citizen.
Dallman made millions of dollars in profit from Jetflicks, the DOJ said, adding that a conservative estimate by the government put the value of the copyright infringement at $37.5 million.
In June last year, a federal jury in the District of Nevada convicted all defendants of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement. Dallman was also convicted of three more counts related to copyright infringement and money laundering.
On May 29 and 30, a court sentenced Dallman to seven years in prison, Huber to a jail term of 18 months, and Jaurequi to time served together with a 180-day home confinement and 500 hours of community service.
Courson and Garcia got three years of probation each, with 48 and 49 days in prison, respectively. Garcia was also sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service.
The final judgments for the five men were issued on July 21.
The Epoch Times was unable to reach legal representatives of the sentenced individuals.
“Digital crimes are not victimless crimes,” said U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada.
“The copyright owners lost millions of dollars as a result of the illegal paid streaming service.
“These sentences underscore our joint commitment with the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and FBI to deter and disrupt intellectual property crime via thorough investigation and prosecution of those who violate federal intellectual property laws.”
The Jetflicks case highlights piracy risks facing the U.S. motion picture industry.
According to the Motion Pictures Association (MPA), the American film and television industry supports 2.32 million jobs, involves more than 122,000 businesses, and pays out $229 billion in wages.
During a December 2023 House hearing, Karyn A. Temple, senior executive vice president of the MPA, said that the piracy of filmed entertainment costs the American economy $29.2 billion and more than 230,000 jobs every year.
In a May 6 statement, Rodrigo Balbontin, associate director for trade, IP, and digital technology governance at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, called on the Trump administration to protect America’s film industry by strengthening copyright protections.
“For example, Trump’s administration should call for Congress to pass legislation to block foreign piracy websites that hurt U.S. creative industries. This is a proven measure, authorized by at least 50 countries, that reduces piracy, increases legal content consumption, and safeguards America’s creative industry from theft,” the group said.
“The Trump administration should insist on stronger intellectual property protections, including copyright, with the countries that are now negotiating over the Trump tariffs.”
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