Contract analysis

I. Introduction and Personal Information

1. My name is Dr. Nathan Frey. I am over the age of eighteen years, and I am competent to testify as to the matters set forth in this declaration. I make this declaration based on my personal knowledge and upon information and analysis that I have conducted or that has been conducted under my direct supervision. If called upon to testify, I could and would testify competently to the facts stated herein.

2. I am the Director of Digital Media Forensics at CipherTrace Analytics, LLC ("CipherTrace"), a digital forensics and analytics firm headquartered at 2700 Sand Hill Road, Suite 130, Menlo Park, California 94025. In that capacity, I lead CipherTrace's practice in audiovisual content identification, platform analysis, and revenue attribution for matters involving digital media distribution.

3. I was retained by Calderwood & Harkness LLP, counsel for Aurelius Global Media Group PLC ("Aurelius") and its wholly-owned subsidiary Aurelius Media Americas, Inc. ("Aurelius Americas" and, together with Aurelius, "Plaintiffs"), in connection with the above-captioned matter, designated as Matter No. 1017-00003. The terms of my engagement are set forth in an engagement letter between CipherTrace Analytics, LLC and

4. The opinions I express in this declaration are rendered to a reasonable degree of scientific and professional certainty, consistent with the standards and practices generally accepted in the fields of digital media forensics, content identification technology, and streaming platform analytics. Where I have applied estimation methodologies—particularly with respect to revenue attribution—I have identified the metho

II. Qualifications and Background

5. I hold a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science from Stanford University, conferred in 2009. My doctoral dissertation, titled Perceptual Hash Functions for Robust Audiovisual Content Identification in Distributed Streaming Architectures, was supervised by Professor Elena M. Vásquez in Stanford's Department of Computer Science and was awarded the department's Forsythe Dissertation Prize for distinguished

6. I have more than seventeen years of professional experience in the fields of digital media forensics, content identification technology, streaming platform architecture, and audience analytics. My areas of technical expertise include, but are not limited to: (a) audiovisual content fingerprinting and perceptual hashing; (b) metadata extraction and analysis from streaming platforms; (c) digital watermarking technol

7. Prior to joining CipherTrace in 2017, I held the following professional positions: (a) Senior Research Scientist, Northgate Holdings, San Francisco, California (2013–2017), where I led a team of engineers developing next-generation content identification technologies for theatrical exhibition and streaming distribution environments; (b) Staff Engineer, Content Protection Division, Calderon Corporation, Mountain Vi

8. I have been qualified as an expert witness and have provided expert testimony in the following federal and state courts: (a) United States District Court, Northern District of California (three matters, 2019–2025); (b) United States District Court, Central District of California (two matters, 2021–2024); (c) United States District Court, Southern District of New York (two matters, 2020–2023); (d) United States Dis

9. I have authored or co-authored twenty-three peer-reviewed publications in journals including the IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, the ACM Computing Surveys, the Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law, and the International Journal of Digital Media Technology. My published research addresses topics including perceptual hashing algorithms, robust fingerprinting under adversarial conditions, large-scale conte

10. I am a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), and a Certified Computer Examiner (CCE) through the International Society of Forensic Computer Examiners. I also serve on the Technical Advisory Board of the Digital Content Protection Association.

11. A true and correct copy of my curriculum vitae, setting forth my education, professional experience, publications, prior testimony, and professional affiliations in full, is attached hereto as Exhibit A and incorporated herein by reference.

III. Scope of Engagement and Assignment

12. As noted in Paragraph 3 above, I was retained by Calderwood & Harkness LLP on behalf of Plaintiffs pursuant to an engagement letter dated February 18, 2026. My assignment in this matter encompassed the following specific tasks: (a) Content Fingerprinting and Identification Analysis. Conduct a comprehensive content fingerprinting and identification analysis on the streaming platform operated by StreamNow Holdings,

13. In performing the analyses described above, I reviewed the following materials: (a) StreamNow platform data accessible through publicly available subscription and ad-supported (AVOD) tiers across all fourteen countries in which StreamNow operates, as accessed and crawled by CipherTrace's automated systems during the period from February 20, 2026 through March 3, 2026; (b) The Aurelius Content Reference Library, c

14. My total fees for services rendered in this matter through the date of this declaration are billed at CipherTrace's standard rates, which are $650 per hour for my time and $375 to $475 per hour for analyst and technical staff time. My compensation is not contingent upon the outcome of this litigation or the substance of my opinions.

IV. Methodology — Content Fingerprinting and Identification A. Fingerprinting Technology Overview

15. Audiovisual content fingerprinting is a well-established technology used throughout the digital media industry to identify and match audiovisual content based on its intrinsic perceptual characteristics. A content fingerprint—sometimes referred to as a "perceptual hash" or "content-based signature"—is a compact digital representation derived from the visual and audio features of an audiovisual work. Unlike crypto

16. The fingerprinting process operates in two phases. In the first phase, a reference fingerprint is generated from an authoritative copy of each audiovisual work—typically the highest-quality master available. This reference fingerprint is stored in a searchable database. In the second phase, the system ingests target content from the platform or source under investigation, generates a query fingerprint from that t

17. CipherTrace's proprietary fingerprinting system, designated as CipherTrace ContentMatch™ v4.2, employs a dual-modality approach that extracts and compares both visual and audio features in parallel. The visual fingerprinting component analyzes spatial frequency distributions, edge patterns, luminance histograms, and temporal motion vectors across sampled frames. The audio fingerprinting component analyzes spectra

18. CipherTrace ContentMatch™ v4.2 has been extensively validated through controlled testing conducted both internally by CipherTrace and independently by academic researchers. In a controlled evaluation conducted in November 2025 using a test corpus of 15,000 audiovisual works spanning diverse genres, languages, and production eras, the system achieved a true positive identification rate of 99.73% and a false positi

19. In connection with this engagement, Aurelius provided CipherTrace, through counsel, with reference copies of all 217 audiovisual titles at issue in this matter. These 217 titles comprise: (a) 142 feature films, ranging from major theatrical releases to direct-to-home-entertainment titles, with original production dates spanning from 1997 through 2024; and (b) 75 television series, comprising a total of 1,038 indi

20. Reference copies were provided in broadcast-quality formats (primarily ProRes 422 HQ and DNxHR) to ensure the highest fidelity fingerprint extraction. CipherTrace generated reference fingerprints for each of the 217 titles and for each of the 1,038 individual television episodes, resulting in a total of 1,180 distinct reference fingerprints stored in a dedicated CipherTrace ContentMatch™ reference database establ

21. Among the Aurelius titles fingerprinted and at issue are several high-profile franchises and catalog properties, including: (a) The "Meridian" franchise, comprising six feature films released between 2012 and 2023, with a combined worldwide theatrical gross of approximately $1.43 billion. The Meridian franchise is one of the highest-grossing film series originating from a UK-based studio and represents a cornerst

22. The breadth and commercial significance of the Aurelius Content at issue underscores the magnitude of the unauthorized distribution that my analysis has revealed. C. Platform Crawling and Matching

23. Between February 20, 2026 and March 3, 2026, CipherTrace systematically accessed and crawled the StreamNow platform across both its subscription (SVOD) and ad-supported (AVOD) tiers. The crawling was conducted using CipherTrace's proprietary automated platform access system, which accesses streaming platforms through standard consumer-facing interfaces—i.e., the same web and application interfaces available to an

24. The fourteen countries in which StreamNow operates, and across which our crawling was conducted, are: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and South Korea.

25. For each piece of audiovisual content retrieved from the StreamNow platform, CipherTrace ContentMatch™ v4.2 generated a query fingerprint and compared it against the Aurelius Content reference database. Matching was performed using a similarity threshold calibrated to the system's validated performance parameters, requiring a minimum dual-modality (visual + audio) confidence score of 98.0% for a positive identifi

26. The crawling and matching process was conducted over multiple access sessions distributed across the twelve-day access window (February 20 through March 3, 2026) in order to confirm the ongoing and persistent availability of identified content. Each Aurelius title was accessed and confirmed on at least three separate occasions during the access window.

27. Results: All 217 Aurelius titles—comprising all 142 feature films and all 75 television series (all 1,038 episodes)—were positively identified on the StreamNow platform. The average dual-modality confidence score across all 1,180 individual content matches was 99.68%, with no individual match falling below 99.52%. In other words, every single Aurelius title and episode at issue in this case was confirmed to be pr

28. Detailed match results for each of the 217 titles and 1,038 episodes, including title name, content type (film or series), episode identifier (where applicable), fingerprint match confidence score, date(s) of access and confirmation, and access tier (SVOD, AVOD, or both), are set forth in Exhibit B (Content Identification Results Table), attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.

V. Metadata Extraction and Analysis

29. In conjunction with the content fingerprinting and identification analysis described in Section IV, CipherTrace extracted and analyzed metadata associated with the Aurelius Content as presented on the StreamNow platform. This metadata was obtained from publicly accessible platform interfaces, content description pages, and embedded data fields within the streaming infrastructure. The metadata analysis addressed f

30. Metadata extracted from the StreamNow platform—including content publication timestamps, first-available dates displayed on content detail pages, and time-series data from third-party platform monitoring services—indicates that the 217 Aurelius titles were ingested into the StreamNow content library beginning on or about April 1, 2024.

31. The ingestion occurred in three discernible waves: (a) Wave 1 (April 1–15, 2024): Approximately 120 titles were ingested in the initial two-week period, including the entirety of the Meridian franchise (six films), the first three seasons of the Iron Compass series (36 episodes), and the majority of the Thornfield period drama catalog; (b) Wave 2 (April 16–30, 2024): Approximately 60 additional titles were ingest

32. The ingestion timeline is significant for several reasons. First, the commencement of ingestion on or about April 1, 2024 is consistent with the alleged execution of the Content Distribution Agreement between Meridian Digital Distributors, LLC (California Secretary of State File No. 202115729430) and StreamNow Holdings, Inc. (Delaware Secretary of State File No. 7291843) on or about March 15, 2024, allowing appro

33. My analysis of geographic availability metadata confirms that Aurelius Content was made available to StreamNow users across all fourteen countries in which the StreamNow platform operates. Specifically, CipherTrace's crawling confirmed the availability of Aurelius titles in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, and

34. Notably, no geographic restrictions or geo-blocking measures were applied to the Aurelius Content on the StreamNow platform. This is significant because the territorial licensing of audiovisual content is a fundamental feature of the global content distribution marketplace. Authorized content distribution agreements typically impose specific territorial restrictions reflecting the licensor's existing exclusive li

35. The unrestricted global availability of Aurelius Content on StreamNow is also directly harmful to Aurelius's existing authorized licensing relationships. For example, Aurelius's authorized exclusive streaming licensee in Japan would be undercut by the simultaneous availability of the same content on StreamNow's Japanese-market service, and similarly for Aurelius's authorized partners in other territories. C. Cont

36. My analysis of the StreamNow platform reveals that Aurelius titles were not merely passively hosted but were actively curated, categorized, and promoted within the StreamNow user interface. Specifically, CipherTrace observed the following editorial treatment of Aurelius Content on the StreamNow platform: (a) Genre Categorization and discovery. Aurelius titles were organized into StreamNow's standard genre categor

37. This active editorial treatment is significant because it demonstrates that StreamNow was not functioning as a passive conduit or mere hosting service with respect to Aurelius Content. Rather, StreamNow exercised editorial judgment and control over the selection, organization, categorization, and promotion of Aurelius Content within its platform—conduct consistent with the role of an active content distributor or

38. Representative screenshots documenting the editorial treatment of Aurelius Content on the StreamNow platform are attached as Exhibit E. D. Ongoing Availability

39. As of the most recent platform crawl conducted by CipherTrace on March 3, 2026, all 217 Aurelius titles remain available for streaming on the StreamNow platform across both the SVOD and AVOD tiers and across all fourteen geographic markets. No Aurelius titles have been removed, geo-blocked, or otherwise restricted in availability at any point during the twelve-day access window or, based on third-party monitoring

40. The infringement is therefore ongoing, active, and continuing as of the date of this declaration.

VI. Viewership and Traffic Analysis A. Methodology.

41. CipherTrace employed a multi-source analytical methodology to estimate the viewership and traffic volume attributable to Aurelius Content on the StreamNow platform during the approximately twenty-two-month period from April 1, 2024 through January 31, 2026 (the "Infringement Period"). Because StreamNow is a privately held company and does not publicly disclose granular title-level viewership data, direct access t

42. While each individual data source has inherent limitations, the convergence of multiple independent sources provides a reliable and well-grounded basis for estimating the viewership attributable to Aurelius Content. The methodology I employed is consistent with the approaches used by media analytics firms and expert witnesses in prior content valuation and damages analyses in the digital media industry. B. Viewer

43. Based on the multi-source analysis described above, I estimate that Aurelius titles accounted for approximately 7.18% of total streams on the StreamNow platform during the Infringement Period. This viewership share was calculated by triangulating play-count indicators, trending data, content demand metrics, and genre-level traffic analysis, and represents my best estimate to a reasonable degree of professional ce

44. The 7.18% viewership share is attributable in significant part to the strength of several key Aurelius franchises on the StreamNow platform. In particular: (a) The Meridian franchise (six films) was among the highest-streamed film content on the StreamNow platform, appearing in StreamNow's daily "Top 10 Films" list in at least eleven of the fourteen geographic markets on multiple occasions during the Infringement

45. The 7.18% viewership share is notable given that StreamNow's content library comprises several thousand titles from hundreds of content suppliers. Aurelius Content's disproportionate share of total platform viewership underscores its commercial significance to the StreamNow platform and its value as a subscriber acquisition and retention driver. C. Traffic Volume

46. StreamNow's total platform streams during the twenty-two-month Infringement Period are estimated at approximately 4.87 billion streams, based on publicly available subscriber counts (approximately 28.3 million global subscribers as of December 2025), industry-average streaming frequency metrics, and analyst estimates of StreamNow engagement levels.

47. Applying the estimated 7.18% viewership share to total platform streams yields an estimated 349.7 million streams of Aurelius Content on the StreamNow platform during the Infringement Period.

48. Peak viewership periods for Aurelius Content coincided with StreamNow promotional campaigns in which Aurelius titles were featured prominently. For example, a StreamNow promotional event in August 2024 designated as "Summer blockbusters" featured all six Meridian franchise films in a prominently displayed homepage carousel, and a November 2024 "Binge Week" event featured the Iron Compass series in a dedicated pro

VII. Revenue Attribution Analysis A. Overview of StreamNow Revenue Model

49. StreamNow generates revenue through three primary channels: (a) Subscription fees (SVOD tier). StreamNow offers tiered subscription plans, including a standard plan (priced at approximately $8.99/month in the United States) and a premium plan (priced at approximately $14.99/month in the United States), with pricing varying by geographic market. Subscription revenue constitutes the largest component of StreamNow's

50. StreamNow Holdings, Inc. is a privately held corporation incorporated in Delaware (Secretary of State File No. 7291843). Because StreamNow does not file public financial statements, precise revenue figures are not publicly available. However, based on a review of industry analyst reports, press coverage, investor conference presentations, and publicly disclosed fundraising information, I estimate that StreamNow's

51. StreamNow's most recent significant equity financing was a Series C round that closed in June 2022, in which Pinnacle Ventures Fund III, LP invested $145 million at a reported post-money valuation of approximately $1.2 billion. Pinnacle Ventures Fund III, LP holds an approximately 62% fully diluted equity interest in StreamNow, according to publicly available filings. This capitalization context is relevant to as

52. To attribute subscription revenue to Aurelius Content, I first estimated StreamNow's total subscription revenue during the twenty-two-month Infringement Period. Based on the annualized revenue figures described in Paragraph 50 and adjusting for revenue growth over the period (StreamNow's subscription revenue grew at an estimated compound annual rate of approximately 18% during the period), I estimate that StreamN

53. An initial, simplified pro rata attribution based on Aurelius Content's estimated 7.18% viewership share would yield approximately $35.7 million ($497.6 million × 7.18%) in subscription revenue attributable to Aurelius Content. However, this simple pro rata calculation does not account for the differential contribution of content viewed by subscribers on different subscription tiers.