Regulatory Anti-Piracy International
International
Twin Challenges of Online Piracy
Friday, 12 October 2012
At a global conference of regulators and business execs in Singapore this week, a keynote speech by AETN All Asia Networks MD Louis Boswell described two things that have to be done to stem consumers going online for illegal downloads and streams of video material: the industry needs to continue to find new ways of delivering high quality content to consumers in the way they want to consume it, and governments need to take regulatory action to send the clear message that piracy is wrong. “At the moment many regulators in this region are simply signaling that they don’t want to fight and that is a huge mistake,” said Boswell. “The onus is on our industry to innovate and be better than pirates, but without a strong legal framework to protect our intellectual property we will fail.” Read the full text of the speech here.
Three strikes regs for UK online piracy
Friday, 29 June 2012
Ofcom is planning to encourage UK internet users to download films and music legally with a new code that would require large ISPs to inform customers of allegations that their internet connection has been used to infringe copyright.
The media regulator has published a draft code for consultation that it said includes measures to help inform the public and promote lawful access to digital content.
The code would initially cover ISPs with more than 400,000 broadband-enabled fixed lines, which currently includes BT, Everything Everywhere, O2, Sky, TalkTalk Group and Virgin Media. The draft code requires ISPs to send letters to customers, at least a month apart, informing them when their account is connected to reports of suspected online copyright infringement.
Under-declaration a Worldwide Problem
Monday, 28 November 2011
Underdeclaration of cable TV subscriptions is a major problem in some Asian markets, and also in other regions. One Latin American government, concerned about losing tax revenues from the cable-TV industry, has proposed revoking the operating licenses of cable-TV operators who underdeclare. See the story here
US Court Punishes Piracy Consumer
Friday, 14 October 2011
A US Court has entered an injunction against a consumer of pirated programming, and fined him US$10,000 in statutory damages. Michael Blair was hit with the judgment by a Federal court in Austin, Texas after the court found he “received copyrighted, subscription-based DISH Network satellite television programming without authorization and without payment to DISH Network.” Blair bought a subscription from a pirate “internet key sharing” service, with servers in Canada, that sent him decryption control words for Dish Network’s programming. A summary of the case can be downloaded here.
Interested members can track this, and other piracy actions in North America, on the website www.satscams.com, which is operated by Nagrastar, a joint venture of CASBAA member companies Nagravision and Echostar.
Content Coalition Urges Passage of US Bill Targeting “Rogue Sites”
Tuesday, 14 June 2011
CASBAA and other members of the Coalition Against Online Video Piracy wrote to leaders of the US Senate Judiciary Committee urging passage of the “Protect IP” Act of 2011”. That bill would aim to penalize international piracy websites by forcing their removal from US domain name servers, advertising servers and search engines. It has garnered a wide range of bipartisan support from legislators concerned about sites pushing everything from pirate movies to fake designer shoes. The letter can be seen here.
Combating Online Piracy of Sports Broadcasts
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
In a recent article, an India-based IP expert provides a succinct analysis of challenges facing broadcasters, as online piracy gets better, faster and more widespread. Says the author, “stakeholders, governments and policy makers in countries that have an established respect for intellectual property are increasingly sensitised to the unique threats posed by such professionally managed pirate operations.” Noting new enforcement and legislative pushes taking place in the USA, the author observes that “a wide range of third parties (such as CDNs, ISPs and domain registries) are involved behind the scenes at each stage of the (piracy) process, many of them based in countries with more progressive intellectual property laws,” and this may provide levers for future actions. Read the entire article here.
Westin Hotel hit with lawsuit for allegedly providing HBO, ESPN without a contract
Monday, 07 February 2011
Westin Hotel is embroiled in a suit over allegedly providing channels such as HBO and ESPN to guests without having obtained the necessary authorization. The Taiwanese agent for these channels claims that Westin never signed a contract with it to broadcast the networks publicly. But the hotel claims that it is contracted to an alternate agent and that it's the other agent that needs to take responsibility. See full article here.
UAE Crackdown on Indian Overspill Boxes
Monday, 17 January 2011
With the Cricket World Cup in the offing, authorities in the United Arab Emirates have threatened fines against individuals using smuggled set-top-boxes and smartcards to view Indian DTH services. The authorities are working with local pay-TV distributor Arab Digital Distribution on an enforcement campaign, apparently grounded in copyright law. (ADD is the authorized distributor in the UAE of a number of Indian pay-TV channels through its Pehla bouquet of Asian programming.) See the full article here.
Middle East Dreamboxes Get Hammered:
Monday, 13 December 2010
Dubai-based satellite DTH provider Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) announced that it will switch to a new encryption system on December 19. Switchoff of its existing signal is expected to render useless several hundred thousand “Dreamboxes” in the Middle East which have been using “control word sharing” to allow unscrupulous consumers to view OSN’s programs without paying. Most of these Middle Eastern circumvention boxes have been exported from Asian STB producers in China and Korea.
See this article from a Bahraini publication. 
Dreambox_article.pdf
Korean Set-Top Box Manufacturer Hit By Huge Piracy Fine:
Thursday, 18 November 2010
A U.S. Court has found Korean Firm Global Technologies guilty of willful violations of copyright and communications laws for distributing set-top boxes aimed at circumventing pay-TV broadcaster Dish TV’s security system. The California court levied a huge fine in the case, which Global Technologies chose not to contest: US$626.2 million dollars (which the judge considered conservative, in light of the huge number of “Pansat” branded circumvention boxes involved in the case -- more than 250,000). Prospects that the fine will ever be paid are unclear. In a related case last April, U.S. firm Panarex agreed to a $121 million settlement. View a press report here.
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