This Company and their software

[Exxar]

I also gave up on StreamFab and went and purchased AnyStream+, it works great for all my primary download sites. The only thing I come back periodically (rarely) and use StreamFab for is something only available freely on Pluto! or Roku. I even stopped using DVDFab in favor of MakeMKV. I'm just not interested in supporting this company anymore.

So did I.

And I even left a review of StreamFab on trustpilot and sourceforge.


If I would treat my customers the same way StreamFab/DvdFab does, they would burn the store with everyone in it.

[artsunlimited]

I have to go along with Jack on this. There really wasn't a large amount of conversation released to us in private in our capacity as moderators and "influencers". But what we did get was always of the "we think we have it fixed" or "watch for the next release" type, soon followed by a message saying that it was going to take a bit longer. I never got the feeling that they were trying to pull one over on us, and that they never had any interest in cracking the DRM. I, personally, told Wilson several times to fire the Developer and hire either post-graduate Computer Science majors or cryptographically knowledgeable forum users from VideoHelp.com. So, it was my thought that they simply had a Developer that wasn't experienced or knowledgeable enough to do the job that he needed to do. I never totally bought into Jack's GitHub/Discord theory of solving the cracking, but that was just my personal opinion and who's to say what was right. We were always left in the dark as to what was actually going on programmingwise.

You mentioned this before, and it makes perfect sense - it's a reasonable solution and the fact that they obviously haven't done it after a solid four months is utterly baffling to me. After all this time, you'd think they'd really have to accept that whoever they have working on it simply isn't capable of getting the job done. It's kind of like like putting milk that you know is sour back in the fridge and saying "Maybe it'll be fresh tomorrow!"

[jpp72]

I never totally bought into Jack's GitHub/Discord theory of solving the cracking, but that was just my personal opinion and who's to say what was right. We were always left in the dark as to what was actually going on programmingwise.

My reasoning behind this was that at least twice, i asked about enabling H265 for other streamers as i started to see scene releases in H265 and was provided a Github link showing that it should be possible. I remember clearly once was for Peacock but can't remember the other one.

[Chameleon]

This is only my guess but if AnyStream can hire developers that can crack Playready and all the other providers except NF, and charge half the price for their program that Fab does, then Fab should be able to do the same. They just don't want to spend the money, our money, that we paid for development.

[JeffDavis]

What's weird is that Feng Tao's IP attorneys, McGeary Cukor LLC, aren't located in NY but in Morristown, NJ, so what's up with them being able to represent him in the Southern District of NY?

From their "Contact Us" page: "We have offices in downtown Morristown, New Jersey and Midtown New York City. Our New Jersey office is within walking distance of the Morris County Courthouse and is a short train or car ride from the Federal Courthouses in Newark, NJ and New York City. Cost-effective and with abundant restaurants, hotels and legal support services, Morristown is an ideal location for running a large federal litigation in either the Southern District of New York or the District of New Jersey."

[artsunlimited]

From their "Contact Us" page: "We have offices in downtown Morristown, New Jersey and Midtown New York City. Our New Jersey office is within walking distance of the Morris County Courthouse and is a short train or car ride from the Federal Courthouses in Newark, NJ and New York City. Cost-effective and with abundant restaurants, hotels and legal support services, Morristown is an ideal location for running a large federal litigation in either the Southern District of New York or the District of New Jersey."

The Morristown Chamber of Commerce must love that plug. My issue was that they're shown on the court docs as being in NY, not representing Feng Tao as NJ lawyers pro hac vice,* which they could easily do- but they don't seem to be listed in the building directory for 1460 Broadway which is supposedly their NY location, which you'd sort of expect for an office of any size. I suppose if they're in a broom closet or renting space in the back of Foot Locker it saves on filing that motion for any other clients, huh?

* Lawyers in good standing in another US state can be admitted pro hac vice - literally, for this occasion - at the discretion of any court in NY to represent their client.

[artsunlimited]

This is only my guess but if AnyStream can hire developers that can crack Playready and all the other providers except NF, and charge half the price for their program that Fab does, then Fab should be able to do the same. They just don't want to spend the money, our money, that we paid for development.

EXACTLY. It can't be cheap, paying a team of devs to crack multiple DRMS, which explains why Anystream doesn't have 420 porn modules - the cost would probably be prohibitive. It's always been reasonably priced, and their move from lifetime to 1 to 2 year licenses in January could be because it's just not economically feasible any longer to keep offering a one-time purchase and still pay their devs to keep the product functioning.

SF really got out ahead of their skis by offering SO many modules that they can't hope to maintain, but as they can't refund people, and they don't want to pay to hire competent devs to crack the major platforms, they're ripping off CleverGet and hoping it will placate people who don't know any better.

[JeffDavis]

The case was in federal court. Michael Cukor is listed as Feng Tao's counsel. His bio states "Michael has lead counsel experience in Federal Courts across the country including the District of New Jersey, Northern District of California, the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware." He doesn't list Southern District of New York, but it would be up to the judge there. His partner Vincent McGeary "has lead [sic] large litigation teams in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Eastern District of Texas, the Northern District of California, the District of Delaware, and the District of New Jersey." I think Feng Tao had pretty impressive legal counsel.

[NewMelle]

This is only my guess but if AnyStream can hire developers that can crack Playready and all the other providers except NF, and charge half the price for their program that Fab does, then Fab should be able to do the same. They just don't want to spend the money, our money, that we paid for development.

This would require strategic planning. Strategic planning requires intelligence and foresight. This would have only been possible well more than four months ago when the new DRM was evidently coming. This doesn't even qualify as hindsight.

As I have zero interest in another module for PooPoo, FeeFee or CaaCaa SF is of little use to me any more.

If the litigation artsunlimited brought to our attention is the catalyst for the transition from direct downloader to screen recorder it is doubtful the DRM will ever be cracked. The only way to get around this, at least until the next lawsuit comes around is dismantle and abandon the company Feng Tao Software and re-emerge as a new entity. Considering the installer is almost a half Gig now it is bordering on bloatware for what it does (or more appropriately what it doesn't). There's flab and then there's flab. This brings some new company names to mind.

I've been toying around with some ideas for the new company slogans/names and or logos. If I posted them I'd probably get the boot.

[artsunlimited]

The case was in federal court. Michael Cukor is listed as Feng Tao's counsel. His bio states "Michael has lead counsel experience in Federal Courts across the country including the District of New Jersey, Northern District of California, the Eastern District of Texas and the District of Delaware." He doesn't list Southern District of New York, but it would be up to the judge there. His partner Vincent McGeary "has lead [sic] large litigation teams in the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the Eastern District of Texas, the Northern District of California, the District of Delaware, and the District of New Jersey." I think Feng Tao had pretty impressive legal counsel.

Uh no - it's not up to the judge as to whether you can represent your client or not as lead counsel if you're licensed to practice law in that state and there's no conflict of interest involving another party in the litigation. There's also more than one judge in the Southern District as it's part of a federal court system that comprises eight counties. If Cukor hasn't listed the Southern District among his lead counsel experience (which doesn't include any NY federal court districts), it simply means he doesn't have it. McGeary has, though. The real question isn't how many district courts they've represented clients in, but did their "large litigation teams" win their lawsuits?

They worked with what they had, but a default judgment was always going to be the end result as the defendants were never going to appear in federal court, and claiming the plaintiffs hadn't suffered irreparable harm not only wasn't going to fly, but implies that Feng Tao would keep on racking up future violations, which tends to tip things in the plaintiff's behalf when it comes to the court issuing permanent injunctions.

Citing insufficient service here nothing more than a delaying tactic and not one they were ever going to win on. It's considered a "technical defense" because it doesn't actually offer a defense as to the complaint itself, but it's actually a crucial element of due process. The filing of a complaint by the plaintiff stops the statute of limitations from running, but the lawsuit can't proceed until service of process has properly been made on the defendant - only when they've been properly served so they're aware they're now the defendant in a lawsuit does the court get jurisdiction over them to impose an (enforceable) judgment of liability - and in this case - damages. If the plaintiff fails to serve the defendant properly, the lawsuit is dismissed because the court has no jurisdiction - but it's dismissed without prejudice, which means it can be filed again as long as the statute of limitations hasn't expired. Once the plaintiff is informed there's a problem with service, it's their responsibility to correct it, or to show due diligence as to why it can't be corrected - in this case, AACCSLA claimed that their investigators couldn't uncover Feng Tao's physical address in order to serve him, which is why they had to resort to serving him via email. At the end of the day, the fact that Feng Tao was represented by counsel that was arguing he'd been improperly served because the plaintiff hadn't gone through The Hague Convention demonstrated that he did, in fact, have knowledge that he'd been served, which is why the motion was ultimately denied.

[Chameleon]

Posted by artsunlimited
which explains why Anystream doesn't have 420 porn modules - the cost would probably be prohibitive.

It's just a guess, but I don't think money has anything to do with why they do not have any porn modules. I just think they have a little more class. If you want porn, you don't have to pay a streamer to get it. (not that I would know)

[NewMelle]

I never really had a use for porn. I have a Wife therefore cannot afford a porn subscription anyway. Why the hell would I watch someone else when I can participate directly? I didn't marry an Ice Queen. I married a Gem. Matter of fact 30 years today. Don't regret a single minute of it either.

[artsunlimited]

I never really had a use for porn. I have a Wife therefore cannot afford a porn subscription anyway. Why the hell would I watch someone else when I can participate directly? I didn't marry an Ice Queen. I married a Gem. Matter of fact 30 years today. Don't regret a single minute of it either.

Happy Anniversary to you both! That's quite a milestone, it's nice to find a married couple who won't be appearing on AITA on Reddit.

[Cats4U]

Fast forward to August 21, 2023* when a permanent injunction against Feng Tao et al was granted on AACSLA's behalf, with damages of $14,927,000. That injunction covers "all circumventing activity," not just DVD encryption, which was the focus of the original 2014 suit, and calls for disabling all the DVDFab websites. I have no further info regarding whether SF plans to comply, or if there any other legal filings on behalf of either party.

I finally got around to reading the court case. I'm not so sure if I agree with your assessment about "all circumventing activity". I don't think this has anything directly to do with StreamFab. According to the AACS website, they only deal with security of optical products. All the programs that are listed as conducting circumventing activity are all those that we usually associate with DVDFab DVD and Blu-ray products. DVDFab Streaming products, such as StreamFab and MusicFab, use a different copyright protection not represented by AACS (Widevine, PlayReady, Fairplay). Of course, if the injunction closes down domain names, websites, distributors, and financial resources, that will surely have a major effect on StreamFab and MusicFab.

I'm going to have to reread it again, but I can't understand why Tao ever responded back to the preliminary injunction in the first place. They are sitting pretty in China where most of the world's laws don't apply. As far as I know, email is not a valid method of serving papers. I think the magistrate just closed his eyes to those facts, and it should have gone through the Hague.

[artsunlimited]

I finally got around to reading the court case. I'm not so sure if I agree with your assessment about "all circumventing activity". I don't think this has anything directly to do with StreamFab. According to the AACS website, they only deal with security of optical products. All the programs that are listed as conducting circumventing activity are all those that we usually associate with DVDFab DVD and Blu-ray products. DVDFab Streaming products, such as StreamFab and MusicFab, use a different copyright protection not represented by AACS (Widevine, PlayReady, Fairplay). Of course, if the injunction closes down domain names, websites, distributors, and financial resources, that will surely have a major effect on StreamFab and MusicFab.

I'm going to have to reread it again, but I can't understand why Tao ever responded back to the preliminary injunction in the first place. They are sitting pretty in China where most of the world's laws don't apply. As far as I know, email is not a valid method of serving papers. I think the magistrate just closed his eyes to those facts, and it should have gone through the Hague.

They're enjoined from trafficking anything that circumvents AACS technology "including but not limited to the DVDFab Software" - but since AACSLA does claim it "facilitates the ability to offer exciting, new, flexible entertainment experiences for consumers to enjoy in stand-alone, networked home and portable device environments," it sounds like it might cover streaming video and not just DVD technology. The injunction enjoins them from further use of any domain names and website where "circumventing activities take place." StreamFab may be advertised "since 2019" but it's advertised on, and can be downloaded from, the DVDFab site, so it may fall under that umbrella. It also enjoins "any banks, savings and loan associations, merchant account providers, payment processors and providers, credit card associations, or other financial institutions which receive or process payments or hold assets on Defendants’ behalf" to stop providing services to them.

I also would've not responded after the court awarded AACSLA that preliminary injunction in March of 2014 by default since Feng Tao et al didn't appear, but his counsel filed a motion to amend it on April Fools' Day - which is pretty ironic, if nothing else. You can motion a lawsuit to the moon and back to delay it, but by April 2016 AACSLA was demanding that Feng Tao et al be found in contempt of the preliminary injunction and demanding a second one be issued, which it was. Feng Tao filed what's known as an interlocutory appeal in the Second Circuit Court, which is an appeal of a non-final order that's been issued while litigation is ongoing, and actually won that one in 2017. It's only after that, in 2018, when they were probably giddy that they'd won something, that Feng Tao's counsel filed the motion to dismiss AACSLA's complaint based on insufficient service of process (which was doomed to fail since four years of legal motions demonstrated that Feng Tao certainly had knowledge that he'd been served), and the next day AACSLA filed for a default judgment. 11 months later Feng Tao's motion to dismiss due to insufficient service was denied, and an order of default judgment against Feng Tao et al was entered.

Then in 2019, Feng Tao et al filed an opposition brief and there were further back and forth motions about that. They also argued insufficient service for a second time, this time for AACSLA's injunction order, claiming service had to be done according to The Hague Convention - the idea here was if AACSLA couldn't serve Feng Tao personally in China, then any injunction order would essentially be unenforceable (remember that AACSLA claimed they could never come up with a physical address for him, which is why he was originally served by email.)

The problem is, their counsel couldn't cite any case law - and worse, the brief quoted from a statute that specifically states that an order granting an injunction binds those “who receive actual notice of it by personal service or otherwise" - since Feng Tao was represented by counsel and had obviously received actual notice of other filings through the ECF (Electronic Case Filing) system, claiming he hadn't received those notices 4 years into a lawsuit was a non-starter, so oops. Feng Tao et al’s request to require service of the plaintiff's permanent injunction in accordance with The Hague Convention was denied.

Email is actually considered a valid method of service for courts here in the US, as long as the plaintiff can establish that the e-mail is likely to reach the defendant, and can demonstrate due diligence to obtain a physical address so that more traditional forms of service can be carried out. AACSLA hired private investigators to suss out Fen Tao's address, apparently to no avail, while Feng Tao refuted this, claiming it was easy to find his physical location.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE - Feng Tao tried insufficient service yet again in July 2023, but as he'd earlier admitted to having received the summons and complaint by email in February 2014, and a lawyer from another firm contacted him that same month offering its legal services because he was being sued in the US, and because he'd also extensively participated in pretrial motions, it was dismissed. Courts usually consider that knowledge of a suit combined with pretrial activity on the defendant's part is essentially a waiver of any insufficient service claims by the defense, especially where any delay due to motions of insufficient service has been to the detriment of the plaintiff’s case. You can't actively participate in your own defense before the trial even starts and then several years into that same trial claim you had no idea you were being sued because you weren't properly served.