Amazon wins 900 million yen in damages in lawsuit against vendors who sold Amazon Prime Video original works on DVD
In 2023, Amazon Technologies, a subsidiary of Amazon, filed a lawsuit against several piracy sites selling DVDs of titles exclusively available on Amazon Prime Video. As a result of the trial, Amazon's claims were fully accepted, and the company was awarded damages totaling $6 million (approximately 900 million yen) and the suspension of domains to shut down the piracy sites.
Amazon Wins $6 Million in Damages Against Pirated DVD Stores, Plus Domain Takeovers * TorrentFreak
Amazon is a member of the Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment (ACE) , an organization dedicated to protecting copyrighted works, and is strengthening its efforts to combat piracy. While most piracy of Amazon Prime Video content occurs in the form of pirated streaming and downloads, some sellers are selling DVDs disguised as official releases. On August 22, 2023, Amazon reported that Amazon Technologies had filed a lawsuit against seven websites selling pirated DVDs of Amazon Prime Video.
Amazon sues pirate dealers selling Prime Video exclusive titles on DVD, damages exceed hundreds of millions of yen - GIGAZINE
Investigators actually purchased over 20 pirated DVDs as test copies and sent them to the Motion Picture Association (MPA), the motion picture association that handles the film industry. The MPA clearly acknowledged that all of the DVDs were pirated.
The lawsuit accused the defendants, believed to be based in China, of copyright and trademark infringement, but the defendants failed to appear in court after receiving the lawsuit, and the trial was decided by default. According to Amazon's lawyers, the defendants closed some of their domains and switched to new ones in response to the lawsuit, and it is believed they were aware of legal pressure.
In February 2026, Judge Fernando Aenle Rocha of the Central District of California granted Amazon's motion for default judgment in its entirety and ordered the payment of a total of $6,075,000 (approximately ¥930 million) in statutory damages for copyright and trademark infringement. The damages consisted of a total of $3,075,000 (approximately ¥470 million) for copyright infringement of 78 copyrighted episodes of seven television series, $75,000 (approximately ¥11.45 million) per infringing work for Amazon's exclusively owned titles, and lower amounts for co-owned titles based on the rights held by the parties. Amazon's damages request was largely granted.
In addition, the company was ordered to pay $1 million (approximately 150 million yen) in damages for each registered trademark for trademark infringement, for a total of $3 million (approximately 450 million yen).
Key points in Amazon's request include a broad injunction and domain transfer for the pirate sites. Judge Rocha ordered domain registrars to transfer ownership of all pirate sites' domains to Amazon. Furthermore, hosting providers who receive notice of the judgment are required to suspend service and impose administrative locks, making it difficult for the sites to be easily reactivated.
Broad injunctions that include domain and hosting controls are relatively rare in piracy cases, and even when pirate sites are shut down, they often resort to evasive tactics such as changing domains or relocating hosting locations. In this case, the defendants have not responded to legal proceedings and are based overseas, making it unlikely that damages will be recovered. However, the broad injunction granted means that pirate DVDs cannot continue to be sold under the disputed domains, at least. TorrentFreak, which reported on the case, noted, 'The broad injunction is the real success. Importantly, Amazon now has the option to extend the injunction to additional domains and sites if it can prove similar copyright infringement operated by the same defendant.'
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