MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/. Rambler is in talks with the streaming service Twitch to sign a settlement agreement on the lawsuit for 180 bln rubles ($2.9 bln), the company’s press service reported citing head of sports projects of Rambler Group Mikhail Gershkovich.
"Our lawsuit to Twitch is about protection of our exclusive rights to broadcast matches of the English Premier League, and we will continue to actively fight against pirated broadcasts. <...> At the moment, negotiations are ongoing with Twitch to sign a settlement agreement. The service has given us the tools to fight with pirated broadcasts, and now we are only talking about compensation for damage caused from August to November, "he said.
The sports project manager at Rambler Group also noted that the sum of the claims was proposed by an external attorney in charge of the case.
"The amount is technical and maximum possible, it will be clarified," Gershkovich said.
On Monday, the Kommersant newspaper reported that Rambler Internet Holding filed a lawsuit against Twitch for distributing pirated broadcasts of football matches of the English Premier League.
According to Yulianna Tabastaeva, who represents the streaming service in court, the claims include recovering compensation in the amount of 180 bln rubles ($2.9 bln) and blocking Twitch.
In 2019, the Rambler Group acquired exclusive rights to broadcast the English Premier League football matches in Russia. The company chose the Okko online cinema as the platform for broadcasts. The contract was signed for three years.
Having revealed a significant number of illegal broadcasts on Twitch, Rambler turned to court demanding that Twitch Interactive should stop distribution of pirated broadcasts.
According to Kommersant, in late November, Rambler changed its claims and now they amount to 180 bln rubles ($2.9 bln). This amount was formed by multiplying the number of alleged illegal views of English Premier League on Twitch (36,000) by the maximum amount of compensation 5 mln rubles ($79,716). However, Rambler Group noted that the final compensation would be determined by the court and would be "based on the actually established circumstances."
After that, it became known that the Moscow City Court had already blocked the broadcasting of matches of the English Premier League on Twitch.tv, as part of an interim measure under the lawsuit of Rambler Internet Holding.