Queens Hookah Lounge Pirated September PPV Boxing Broadcast, Alleges Suit

A Queens, New York, hookah lounge and its owners “willfully engaged” in wrongful acts when they intercepted the pay-per-view broadcast of the Sept. 30 boxing match between Canelo Alvarez and Jermell Charlo, alleged Joe Hand Promotions’ Communications Act complaint Thursday (docket 1:24-cv-04357) in U.S. District Court for Eastern New York in Brooklyn. Eynat Haroche Ipanaque and Emil Azer, owners of the Spot Hookah Lounge in the Astoria section of Queens, knew or should have known that the interception and exhibition of the broadcast weren't “properly authorized,” said the complaint. The broadcast wasn’t for private viewing, nor was it for residential, noncommercial purposes, it said. The lounge sold food and drinks during the broadcast, and the public display of the program was to entice patrons to the establishment to spend money while viewing it, it said. The owners intentionally pirated the program for their own economic gain, while other establishments paid substantial sums for the proper commercial sublicense to show the broadcast legitimately to their customers, the complaint said. It seeks maximum damages of up to $160,000 for each willful violation of Section 605 or Section 553 of the Communications Act.