Intellectual Property Rights Holders Association Blog

Earlier this month, the Recording Association of America (RIAA) won a copyright infringement suit against Usenet.com  The lawsuit, which was filed on October 12, 2007, had the RIAA claiming  that Usernet newsgroups contain “millions of copyrighted sound recordings.”   Although Usenet is currently named as the sole defendent, RIAA could in turn possibly sue hundreds of universities, Internet service providers, and other newsgroup archives.  Usenet is a site that lets newsgropus users share documents, music, and other files.  The site works differently than that of many file-sharing sites.  It stores content on servers and makes it available on-demand,  rather than the typical peer-to-peer architecture usually utilized.  According to the RIAA, the decision for the Association exemplifiesthe “courts recognizing the value of copyrighted music and taking action against companies and individuals who are engaging in wide-scale infringement.”  The ruling comes as the RIAA is shifting away from its longtime strategy of targeting individuals suspected of sharing music files online. Instead, the organization is going after companies that make such copyright violations possible.  The RIAA is initiating a new strategy which asks internet service providers to join a voluntary anti-piracy direction which would include the internet service providers passing along RIAA copyright infringement notices to subscribers.  If the notices are repeatedly ignored by the user, the user would therefore face having their service reduced or suspended before a possible lawsuit.

We approached top removal specialist firm RemoveYourContent.com about their perception of the online market with respect to infringement. They were kind enough to stop sending DMCAs for just long enough to answer a few of our questions.

In your travels, would you say that copyright infringement is becoming a more pervasive problem?

I think that it’s not more pervasive… rather more organized and user-friendly. Back in the early days of the net… Usenet and IRC were pretty much common place for folks wishing to exchange pirated media. Nowadays, you can find that same level of piracy, but now on the web and you don’t need any knowledge related to IRC clients or Usenet newsreaders to access it.

Would you say that the degree of expertise required to acquire infringed  materials decreasing?

Most definitely decreasing. The explosion of free file hosting server farms make downloading media as simple as clicking your mouse.

Besides your services, what other means of intellectual property rights control do you think content owners should exercise?

Content producers need to start suing copyright infringers (of their media) and holding people accountable for their actions. Internet piracy has become the equivalent to “jay walking”. The crazy thing about this whole process is that each copyright infringement is a violation of FEDERAL law, if one resides within the United States. Robbing a bank is a federal offense (here in the United States) and investigated by the FBI. The same could be said about copyright infringement, however, the government fails to see the tangible losses.. thus they do next to nothing in enforcement.

Do you think penalizing the end-user for doing the uploading is an effective  strategy?

There’s a place for people who violate laws. It’s called jail or the penitentiary. If someone goes into convenience store,
shoplifts and is caught.. they go to jail. What’s happening online is tantamount to that very same crime.. yet nobody is “penalized”. There’s something very wrong with that.

Are there any sites that seem to accommodate you removing infringed material as a part of their expected business plan?

Answer related to pirated sites:
Not to my knowledge. We work with a lot of “pirate” sites directly.. to get client content down faster than just bombarding the host with Dmca notices. It’s not because we like what’s going on, it simply more efficient for everyone involved, except for the uploader that is.

Answer related to clients:
We now keep our client site list confidential. I can say that we do work for approximately 67 producers worldwide.. including online mainstream, reality, hentai, sologirl, gay, shemale and fetish.. as well as a large portfolio of DVD lines.

Do you notify the advertisers that appear on a page containing infringing  material?

Not anymore. We changed out terms of service to specifically
include that verbiage as well.

If so, do they respond? How?

Most, non-content producers do not respond or take any action against copyright infringement sites.

Do you feel removal requests received by infringers from your company tend to receive more attention than a similar request from a lesser known organization?

Honestly, I’m not sure. I would hope they would address every infringement notice they receive as equal. We’ve had our notices made public on more occasions then I can recall. Maybe that’s why.

What is the biggest trend in infringement that no one is talking about?

Affiliate infringement

 

We appreciate RemoveYourContent.com taking their time to speak with us about this issue. We look forward to speaking with them again about their ongoing endeavors.