Department of Justice seizes domains for Bulgarian piracy sites

The federal authorities stated it seized three industrial U.S.-registered web domains for web sites working in Bulgaria that allegedly illegally distributed hundreds of copyrighted works.

The operation focused on-line companies that provided copyrighted TV exhibits, video video games, films and different content material, the Justice Division stated Friday. A lot of the copyrighted materials belongs to American corporations, the company stated.

Tens of tens of millions of tourists, primarily in Bulgaria, go to the three seized domains yearly, leading to tens of millions of unlawful downloads, and the estimated retail worth of the stolen copyrighted works is “tens of millions of {dollars},” the division stated.

“The three domains are among the many hottest in Bulgaria — one is usually ranked as one of many prime 10 most visited domains in Bulgaria — and, given the large web site visitors they obtain day by day, appear to make appreciable cash from ads,” the press launch stated.

The web sites, now in custody of the federal government, are labeled with a banner notifying guests of the seizure and warning that copyright infringement is against the law.

The seized domains are zamunda.internet, arenabg.com and zelka.org. Bulgarian regulation enforcement and Europol assisted U.S. companies within the investigation, the Justice Division stated.

Current worldwide operations in opposition to piracy websites embody a takedown of the Streameast sportscast platform, seizures of a number of videogame websites equivalent to Nsw2u and an investigation that traced $55 million in cryptocurrency transactions associated to digital piracy.

In July 2025, 5 males had been sentenced within the U.S. for operating the Jetflicks unlawful TV streaming website.

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