TorrentFreak Kocowa Secures Win Against Dramacool Pirates, U.S. Court Grants Domain Takeovers

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Pirate streaming network Dramacool and several associated sites shut down in November 2024, citing legal pressure from copyright holders.

The operators of the Asian drama and anime portal never revealed who was behind that pressure, but court records later showed it was Wavve Americas Inc., the parent company of legal Korean streaming service Kocowa.

Wavve had filed a copyright lawsuit in Arizona federal court against the unknown operators of multiple Dramacool domains, hoping to take the associated sites offline permanently.

Defendants Go Silent​

When Wavve eventually identified the defendants, they were scattered across Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, the Netherlands, and New Jersey.

Kocowa identified domain operators in Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, the Netherlands, and New Jersey. The amended complaint named Asian C, Tommy USA, Najeeb Ullah Mirani, Baidar Bakhtand, and Dorothy Bradshaw, none appeared in court to answer the complaint.

Meanwhile, some Dramacool domains remained operational. While these may include copycat sites unrelated to the original operation, the ongoing copyright infringement is a serious problem for Kocowa.

To break this impasse, Wavve filed a motion for default judgment in September 2025, noting that some defendants had not only ignored the litigation but expanded their operations to new domains while the case was pending.

The company did not seek any monetary compensation but simply requested an order that would allow the company to take over the Dramacool domain names.

Default Judgment Entered​

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Krissa M. Lanham granted the motion for a default judgment in full. The court found the requested injunction proportional and appropriate.

“Requiring defendants stop their infringing activities will not cause any legitimate hardship. And the public interest is served in enforcing copyright law. A permanent injunction prohibiting defendants from continuing their activities is appropriate,” the order reads.

The order prohibits all defendants from operating the sixteen named domain names, including watchasia.to and asianwiki.co, and also bars them from registering or owning any new piracy-linked domain names.

Default Judgment

Wavve had acknowledged that an award for monetary damages would be meaningless, as the foreign pirate site operators are unresponsive. Therefore, they set all their hopes on a domain transfer order, which the court granted as well.

Domain Transfers Granted​

In the order, Judge Lanham acknowledged that domain transfers are legally contested territory in copyright cases. The standard trademark statute that typically enables such transfers does not apply here, as the lawsuit did not include trademark claims.

However, since none of the defendants put up a defense and because several of the associated sites remain online, the transfers were granted. This was in part justified by judgments in a number of other courts, which approved domain transfers in similar copyright cases.

The order notes that domain transfers can be an appropriate remedy when there are indications that the defendants will not comply with an injunction. That is the case here, Judge Lanham concluded.

“Here, defendants concealed their identities, ignored this litigation, and have an ‘established practice of evading copyright enforcement by moving their operation to new domains, even after having a judgment rendered against them’,” the order reads,

“Wavve is entitled to an order transferring the domain names,” Judge Lanham adds.

Dramacool Domains Still Online​

Whether Wavve can actually take control of all 16 domains remains to be seen, as not all registrars and registries may comply with U.S. court orders.

Several of the original Dramacool-operated domains, including dramanice.la, runasian.net, watchasia.to, asianc.sh, and asianwiki.co, have been offline since the November 2024 shutdown.

However, at least three of the named domains are still actively serving pirated content several days after the judgment was entered. Dramacool.bg, dramacool.com.tr, and dramacool.ba all remain online, redirecting visitors to functional streaming sites with full drama libraries.

In closing, it is worth stressing that the permanent injunction prevents the defendants from registering new domain names for infringing purposes. However, the domain transfer order targeted at registrars and registries, is limited to the sixteen named domain names.

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A copy of the default judgment order, issued by U.S. District Judge Krissa M. Lanham, is available here (pdf). The clerk’s entry of default judgment is available here (pdf).

From: TF, for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

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