Mediaset scores victory in battle against rights theft

Italy’s Mediaset has scored another legal victory in its ongoing battle against content theft, in this case against now defunct US male-focused website provider Break Media.

Italy’s Court of Cassation has rejected an appeal by the now retired Break.com site’s owner TMFT Enterprises, confirming an earlier sentence condemning Break Media to pay compensation for damages for the unauthorised use of its content.

Mediaset said that Break.com had, from 2012, published over 40 pieces of video content ilegally taken from Mediaset programmes including Buona Domenica, Matrix, Sabato Vip, Veline, Paperissima,

Ciao Darwin, Corrida, Studio Aperto, Maurizio Costanzo Show, Le Iene, Il Bagaglino, Scherzi a parte and Zelig.

Court president Francesco Antonio Genovese found that Break Media went beyond providing technical access to Mediaset’s content but selected video and audio content to link it to advertising based on data with the input of an editorial team.

Break Media merged with Alloy Digital in 2013 to create Defy Media, which subsequently ceased operations in 2018.