Issue 27 6 August 2019
To boldly go where no IP laws have gone before
In the issue
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Editor: Barney Dixon Reporter: Ben Wodecki benwodecki@blackknightmedialtd.com +44 (0)208 075 0926
Star Trek
Streaming Services
Reporter’s log, stardate 41153.7. We are analysing how intellectual property laws in the Star Trek universe could be applied to our legal system for the better
As the increase in market choice of content streaming platforms widens, is this creating an environment for piracy sites to flourish?
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News Focus
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The latest news from around the intellectual property sphere
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Publisher: Justin Lawson justinlawson@blackknightmedialtd.com +44 (0)208 075 0929
Office Manager: Chelsea Bowles
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News Focus FIFA 20 loses Juventus IP rights The makers of FIFA have lost the intellectual property rights of reigning Italian champions Juventus after the club signed an exclusive rights deal with rival game Pro Evolution Soccer (PES). PES maker Konami revealed it has secured “a long-term, exclusive partnership” with Juventus, starting with its 2020 edition. Historically, PES opted to avoid paying expensive licences for teams, with the Turin club known as PM Black White on its 2019 edition. The deal covers Juventus IP rights within console football video games, including the team name, crest and official kit. Giorgio Ricci, Juventus’ chief revenue officer, commented: “We are particularly proud of the partnership signed with Konami. This agreement sees two global football and entertainment icons, PES and Juventus, partnering together for the next three years, and it will allow us to more easily identify with our younger fans, as well as increase our appeal to both sports fans and those of esports.” This licensing deal means FIFA 20 will not feature the team Juventus. EA was quick to quash worries, announcing the real-world players would remain the same, however, the team will be under a different name. EA has now renamed its Juventus team to Piemonte Calcio, which will feature a custom made kit and badge. In a statement, EA thanked Juventus “for the years of collaboration as the team’s Official Sports Video Gaming partner”. Fiona McBride, partner and trademark attorney at Withers & Rogers, commented: “The Japanese video game company, Konami, appears to have played a blinder by securing exclusive rights to the name and identity of the worldfamous Juventus football club for its recently-released video game—PES 2020.” “This is a major blow for rival video game producer, EA Sports, which currently holds licences for most popular football teams. As a result, players of FIFA 2020 will not be able to find the Juventus team by name. This development shows how negotiating an exclusive licence agreement can help agile innovators to gain a lasting commercial advantage over their competitors. Konami’s success means EA Sports could be forced to pay the price in lost sales.” 3 IPPro
New Sheffield Wednesday kit features disputed WAWAW TM term English Championship club Sheffield Wednesday has released its new kit featuring the term WAWAW, a disputed trademark involved in an ongoing legal dispute. The new blue and white home strip features WAWAW, which stands for We’re All Wednesday Aren’t We. Wednesday fans often use this as a hashtag on Twitter. Paul Jennings of Nottingham had been granted a UK trademark for WAWAW in classes 16, 25 and 34 covering goods including clothing, tobacco products, and 3D decals. The club filed an opposition against the mark in June, with a club spokesperson saying it was confident the UKIPO would overturn the mark. John Coldham, intellectual property partner at Gowling, commented: “Until the trademark is revoked, strictly the usage of the trademark by Sheffield Wednesday is an infringement if it is registered for football kit.” “Given that he appears to be a fan, having purchased a box last season, it remains to be seen whether Paul Jennings will issue proceedings.” “If Sheffield Wednesday is able to prove that it has been using the name for a number of years on its football kits, it should be able to see off this issue in the fullness of time. It will depend on the evidence both sides is able to file.”
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News Focus France becomes first EU nation to adopt Copyright Directive France has become the first EU nation to adopt the Copyright Directive into its national law.
meaning individuals, small companies and non-profits will be affected.
The European Council adopted the reform following an April vote. Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands opposed the directive, along with Luxembourg, Finland, and Poland.
Under article 17, content platforms and apps like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter requiring individual licences from rights holders in order for users to post material.
The directive aims to better press remunerations by altering online copyright rules.
Sites would be found directly liable for copyright infringement if infringing content uploaded by a user is found to be on it.
The reforms have gained notoriety, with many critics warning that two aspects of the reforms, articles 15 and 17 would lead to internet-breaking changes.
France’s minister of culture, Franck Riester, thanked members of the French assembly for their work to bring the directive to pass.
Under article 15, the reproduction of more than single words or very short extracts of a news story would require a licence. This would cover snippets of news that appear alongside links. No exceptions will be made for this,
Various European publishing groups have been in favour of the reforms, while US tech giants like Google and YouTube have been vocal in their disdain towards the changes.
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News Focus USMCA ‘critical to US economic future’, according to 600 strong letter to Congress Over 600 businesses have written to the US Congress urging it to pass the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), calling it “critical to our economic future”. The USMCA is the newly reorganised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Covered by the agreement is the extension of patent protection for pharmaceutical companies in Mexico and Canada to 10 years for biologics, bringing the term closer to the US’s 12-year protection. The agreement also expands the scope of products eligible for protection. The group’s letter reminds that Mexico and Canada are “the top two export destinations for US small and medium-size businesses”, with more than 120,000 of which sell their goods and services to Canada and Mexico.
The groups, which includes the Advanced Medical Technology Association, the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones, and the Motion Picture Association of America, argue the USMCA will “modernise North American trade rules. USMCA’s digital trade chapter sets a new, high standard, as the agreement does in areas from intellectual property protection to trade in services.”
The letter reads: “By creating a level playing field for trade in North America, USMCA will help US companies and the workers they employ compete in our top two export markets. The case for the agreement’s approval is strong. We urge Congress to approve USMCA as soon as possible.”
The USMCA intends to hold stronger protections for IP rights. Mexico and Canada will be forced to alter their patent and copyright rules to match the USMCA’s requirements.
A US International Trade Commission (USITC) report from April said that the USMCA will increase protections for US firms that rely on IP.
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News Focus
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Swiss retain top spot in WIPO’s Global Innovation Index Switzerland is once again the most innovative country in the world, according to the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO)’s 2019 Global Innovation Index (GII).
CITMA president calls on Boris Johnson to see IP importance Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys (CITMA) president Tania Clark has called on newly-appointed British prime minister Boris Johnson to recognise the importance of intellectual property. Boris Johnson was appointed prime minister following a vote by Conservative party members after Theresa May stepped down. He defeated foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt by 92,153 votes to 46,656. Responding to the news, Clark, a Withers & Rogers partner, commented: “A new prime minister could bring a different approach, but our position remains the same— minimum cost for business and maximum legal certainty when it comes to EU trademarks and designs is essential for business.” “We want the UK to continue to be in or closely aligned to the EU system for trademarks and designs—this would benefit businesses in the UK across the EU. This includes continued rights of representation before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for UK Chartered Trade Mark Attorneys after Brexit.” Regardless of a deal, comparable UK trademarks will be automatically registered for all owners of EU trademarks. post-Brexit. However, if a withdrawal agreement is not secured the UK trademark attorneys will miss out on rights of representation for attorneys at the EUIPO. Despite the concerns, Clark remained optimistic, saying: “It is welcome that the government has assured holders of EU trademarks and designs that an equivalent UK right will be created on Brexit. It is essential that this is honoured.” “IP will be a vital part of future trade agreements, both with the EU and further afield. It is important the IP community is fully consulted, and we call on the new prime minister to ensure this happens.” 6 IPPro
The GII ranks 126 economies based on 80 indicators such as IP filing rates and mobileapplication creation. The Swiss maintain their first-place spot, with last year’s second-placed the Netherlands dropping down to fourth and Sweden taking its place. The US moved up three places to third. Last year’s edition saw China breaking into the top 20 for the first time. It has now bettered its 17th place moving up to 14. Iceland is the only nation to be in the top 20 who wasn’t there in 2018. WIPO director general Francis Gurry commented: “The GII shows us that countries that prioritise innovation in their policies have seen significant increases in their rankings.” “The rise in the GII by economic powerhouses like China and India have transformed the geography of innovation and this reflects deliberate policy action to promote innovation.” The Government of India hosted the launch of the 2019 edition, with its minister of commerce and industry and railways, Piyush Goyal, saying: “The 2019 launch of the GII in India is a significant event and a recognition of the Government of India’s commitment to innovation in recent years. The GII is a useful tool for governments to map out their strategies to foster innovation. The Government of India complements the WIPO for its efforts in this direction.” Gurry thanked the Government of India for hosting the global launch of the GII: “India’s high-level focus on using innovation to foster economic development makes the country an ideal location for the GII 2019 launch.
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News Focus IACC president warns of ‘distressingly high’ ecommerce counterfeit numbers
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The overall volume of illicit sales from ecommerce sites “remains distressingly high”, according to International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC) president Bob Barchiesi. Testifying before the US House Judiciary Committee on the threats counterfeits pose, Barchiesi said the IACC has seen “some progress” in its efforts to address the trafficking of counterfeit goods on ecommerce sites. However, he warned there is much more that “can and should be done to ensure that the online ecosystem is one that can be trusted by both consumers and legitimate businesses”. Of the issues IACC members addressed relating to fake goods being distributed via ecommerce platforms, Barchiesi said the chief among these concerns were related to “the on-boarding and vetting of sellers, the need for more comprehensive data sharing among relevant stakeholders, and the need to ensure that the penalties imposed upon bad actors are both meaningful and permanent”. He expressed that rights holders “frequently point to a lack of transparency among platforms with regard to actions taken in response to counterfeit sales and access to actionable information that might permit an intellectual property owner to further investigate or pursue independent legal action”. In order to achieve a “clean” online marketplace that is free of fakes, Barchiesi said changes “must start with the initial onboarding of merchants”. He concluded: “While we recognise that historically, there has been a tension between the competing interests of privacy and transparency on the internet, in the realm of e-commerce, and particularly where issues of consumer protection arise, we believe the balance weighs heavily in favour of transparency”. Several other IP stalwarts testified before the house, with International Trademark Association (INTA) committee member and Ropes & Gray partner Peter Brody calling for a restoration to the provision on the presumption of irreparable harm. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)’s commissioner for trademarks, Mary Denison, used her testimony to attack fraudulent trademark filings originating from China. 7 IPPro
UK High Court rules Roche Vedolizumab patent invalid The UK High Court has ruled a Roche patent is invalid, following legal action from Takeda UK. Takeda argued that Roche’s European patent covering Glycosylated Antibodies, which are used in its Vedolizumab product, is invalid, after Roche sued Takeda arguing its Entyvio product infringed its patent. Takeda’s Entyvio is used to treat ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Takeda has always denied infringement of Roche’s patent and brought claims for revocation to the UK High Court. Roche’s patent was granted in 2012 and was opposed by GSK and Novartis. The Technical Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office upheld the validity of the patent and slightly amended the claims. Takeda’s argument that when reconstituted the deposited cells do not produce antibodies within the claims, but the court found this argument to not be “a free-standing basis for a finding of invalidity” by High Courtjustice Colin Birss. Justice Birss found all the claims of the Vedolizumab-related patent to be invalid. He ruled the claims “lack novelty, lack a technical contribution and are insufficient”. He added that the disputed patent “ought to be revoked”.
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News Focus Half of content creators worried about article 17 challenges Almost 50 percent of video creators are worried that article 17 will cause them further challenges, according to a Lickd report. Article 17 of the EU Copyright Directive will see content platforms and apps like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter requiring individual licences from rights holders in order for users to post material. The report from Lickd, a claims-free commercial music licencing company, warned that article 17 will make attempts to grow viewerships and revenues “even more challenging”. Some 58 percent of Lickd’s respondents admit they have been hit by a copyright claim on YouTube.
Paul Sampson, CEO of Lickd, commented: “Despite Article 17 being called out as a potential win for the industry— because it requires platforms that host creative works uploaded by their users to fairly share the income they generate with creators—it is very clear that those very creators do not share that view.” “Combine this with the risks associated with using unlicensed music, then suddenly the potential to generate revenue through content at risk for creators and the music industry. “ “We are constantly challenging the music industry to make sure that no party, including creators, lose out. Providing claims-free commercial tracks is one of the solutions.”
Only three percent of the content creators surveyed said their creation time isn’t impacted by spending time searching for copyright-free music.
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BEN WODECKI REPORTS
08.06.2419
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO IP LAWS HAVE GONE BEFORE
Reporter’s log, stardate 41153.7. We are analysing how intellectual property laws in the Star Trek universe could be applied to our legal system for the better
Space. The Final Frontier. The voyages of the Starship Enterprise and its continuing mission to explore strange new worlds are etched into the very fabric of pop culture. Aphelleon/shutterstock.com
Beam me up Scotty, Spock, and the USS Enterprise are just some of the images from the long-running series that even a layman would recognise.
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As a sci-fi franchise, it is unlike any other, it shows society working together in peace for the greater good, while characters discussed feelings and celebrated the cultures of other worlds. But in the futuristic society of the 24th century, are there intellectual property laws? Or does the United Federation of Planets have no need for patenting or copyrights?
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A matter of perspective To answer the question of whether the Star Trek franchise as a whole has IP laws would take a lifetime to accurately say yes or no. As a lawyer would often stipulate—it depends. You’d have to sift through hours of television and movies and hundreds of comics and novellas. Luckily, one member of the IPPro team has done just that. The clearest example of one form of IP stems from the original series on none other than the home planet of Mr Spock: Vulcan. In the episode, I, Mudd, recurring antagonist and general irritant Harry Mud was caught illegally reselling patents as well as a Vulcan fuel synthesiser without paying the rights owners and was sentenced to death on Deneb V. The confrontation with Mudd led to this amusing conversation:
Mudd to Spock: “You may be a wonderful science officer, but believe me, you couldn’t sell fake patents to your mother!” Spock to Mudd: “I fail to understand why I should care to induce my mother to purchase falsified patents.”
Clearly, the logic-driven Vulcans have very strict laws regarding patents, while the Denebians treat local inventions in a similar manner. It is worthy to note that both Vulcan and Deneb V were, at that episode’s point in the timeline, members of the Federation. The popular, one-of-a-kind android, lieutenant commander Data, is deemed to be an innovative machine
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and not a sentient being and becomes the property of Star Fleet in a highly emotional episode from The Next Generation. The Measure of a Man sees how the Federation and its high ranking science officers view both innovativeness and sentience. The issue of whether artificial intelligence (AI) and generated works created by it should be protected is causing heading legal headaches today. Many, including the World Intellectual Property Organization’s director general, Francis Gurry, are against it, with Gurry saying he sees “no value whatsoever in attributing inventorship rights to a machine”. Gurry said it is “more acute to authorship rather than inventorship”, as there are publications being produced by AI today. A recent example from the Voyager series shows the issues that come from works generated by AI. In Author, Author, The Doctor, the USS Voyager’s Emergency Medical Holographic program (or “EMH”) and chief medical officer wrote a holonovel called Photons Be Free. It was very closely based on the crew of the Voyager, with the novel taking place aboard the USS Vortex. He was forced to change the names of the crew, which delayed the publishing of the novel. However, the publisher opted to release the book without The Doctor’s permission. The Doctor was told he had no rights: although he might be the author, as a hologram he wasn’t a sentient being. Although a legal hearing aboard the ship deemed The Doctor not to be a person, he was found to have the same rights as a human author and was allowed to recall the novel. While academics and IP professionals are arguing how to deal with AI, characters in Star Trek Discovery, the most recent series, are fighting against it for their lives. Every conference speech revolves around jokes of how AI could end the human race or make our jobs obsolete, Discovery takes this idea, applies it, and then hypercharges it. Control was section 31’s threat assessment system until it betrayed Starfleet and massacred the crew of section 31 headquarters. It spent the entire second season attempting to kill the cast for important information to allow it to grow and kill all sentient life in the universe— inventors beware!
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Future imperfect What could our world and intellectual property systems learn from Star Trek? The biggest takeaway would be the solidarity. Lawyers and in-house councils would jump at the chance of holding just one trademark or one patent that covers every jurisdiction. You may be able to get that in the United Federation of Planets. That is obviously not available in our world, but imagine the benefits—no multi-jurisdictional litigation battles and no confusing jurisdictional differences. Just harmony, and of course, protection. Copyright law exists in the Star Trek universe, as already mentioned, but works still fall out of copyright, just like in our time. Characters, like captain John-Luc Picard, often quote and read classic literature. Picard is a massive fan of Shakespeare and other literary icons and often encourages Data to indulge in them. When Gene Roddenberry envisioned Star Trek, he created a universe where every human and citizen of the United Federation of Planets gets along without personal conflicts. A lack of litigation involving IP is likely the case in the Federation at least, for other planets though, that’s probably not the case. The Federation works together to create technologies that benefit exploration, rather than war or profit. Working together in such a manner likely benefited the creation of disruptive technologies and the focusing of them in order to better the technologies they currently had. From the spore drive to warp engine technologies, the Star Trek universe uses technology to better society, rather than monopolise and profit, which is the very basis of our IP system. One could argue that in a universe such as Star Trek, IP may not even be needed as there is nothing to monopolise as each ship in the Federation’s fleet will utilise the technology when it is widely adopted.
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IP in Star Trek is a dream. A fantasy to some and a reality to only fictional beings etched into the minds of millions. Our universe will likely never follow the IP models seen utilised by the Federation, but one day we will have to adapt our laws when we ourselves reach the stars.
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The Awards Fowler White Burnett shareholder and friend of IPPro, Joe Englander, has given out awards to Star Trek episodes which he thinks best raise issues regarding IP.
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Best episode using trademarks Mirror, Mirror, the original series, season 2, episode 4 This is the episode when Spock had a beard, and the whole crew was an evil twin of itself. We could distinguish evil Spock by the beard of course, but otherwise? We saw the classic Star Fleet swoosh insignia on the shirt had been changed to a sword through the Earth. That is how you distinguish your services!
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Best episode using patents I, Mudd, the original series, season 2, episode 8 In this episode, patent law came up twice. Mudd had been sentenced to death on Deneb V for selling false patents to a Vulcan fuel synthesiser. He escaped to a planet populated by androids. He then creates new androids, including one of his wife Stella, without a licence from the owners of the technology. While those owners were apparently dead, as we know, IP rights persist. This episode also touches upon cybersecurity. At the end of the episode, the crew and Mudd attack the controlling android (Norman) by acting silly. Norman is so affected by the directed denial of service attack that smoke comes out of his ears.
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Best episode using copyright law The Enemy Within, the original series, season 1, episode 5 This is the episode with the unicorn dog. The original Kirk is split into two derivative works: weak Kirk and aggressive Kirk. Both of these Kirks were derived from the same source material. The IP law question raised at the end is whether the “merged” Kirk is the original Kirk or a next-generation derived work. An honourable mention should go to the episode A Piece of the Action. This is the gangster episode, where the society has based itself on a book titled “Chicago Mobs of the Twenties”. However, I cannot see how a society could be a derivative work.
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Best episode using unfair competition regarding false statements The Corbomite Maneuver, the original series, season 1, episode 10 This is the episode where a giant ship holds the Enterprise captive. Eventually we learn that the giant ship is helmed by a friendly child-sized alien Balok. The only way Kirk was able to save the ship was by bluffing that the enterprise is carrying an explosive known as a Corbomite Device. Everything ended well, with a tranya toast!
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Streaming Services · Feature
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Guess who’s watching As the increase in market choice of content streaming platforms widens, is this creating an environment for piracy sites to flourish? Rebecca Delaney reports
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In the digital age of content streaming, consumers are decidedly spoilt for choice in the number of platforms available. This is particularly true for film and TV services, as music streaming is somewhat monopolised by Spotify, owing to its virtually unlimited provision of artists, albums and personalised playlists for a standard monthly fee. However, visual media entertainment is fiercely competitive because each streaming service promises a new form of exclusivity distinguished only by their different platforms’ branding: want to watch a dystopian drama? Subscribe to Netflix for Bird Box. Subscribe to Amazon Prime for The Man in the High Castle. Subscribe to Hulu for The Handmaid’s Tale. Online streaming platforms are becoming increasingly globalised, offering more international content 14 IPPro
to a wider audience. As Kieron Sharp, CEO of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), notes, the market has seen “an increase in the number of aggregated services that provide all types of content in all languages”. But now, consumers are close to saying enough. More choice means more subscription fees, and recent research conducted by digital data and analytics company MUSO reflects this growing discontent. While subscription habits are primarily influenced by cost and convenience, MUSO found that over 80 percent of survey participants believed they were paying too much for content streaming services, an indication of what Andy Chatterly, CEO of MUSO, describes as “evidently a low ceiling on what consumers expect to pay for the content they enjoy”. www.ippromagazine.com
Streaming Services · Feature Two-thirds of MUSO respondents said they were subscribed to one or two streaming services, with one in five being subscribed to three or four services. In addition, 64 percent of respondents said that they would not pay for any more streaming services, despite the impending launch of Apple TV+, Disney+ and BritBox. Chatterly highlights that the announced development of these three new services will cause the market to become more competitively saturated, making it “difficult to predict whether there’ll be a change in their behaviour, or if we’ll see the new services struggle to get people on board.” The key trend to focus is that the increase in legitimate streaming services has correlated with an increase in the number of piracy sites. Although pirate streamers claim to be anti-capitalist by providing free entertainment to their online community, illegal streaming has now become a commercial enterprise in itself. The professionalism of piracy sites includes sophisticated interfaces and fast loading HD streams but, most importantly for consumers, their services are free. Nick Matthew, investigation manager at FACT, explains that the acceleration of illegal streaming sites has led to an increase in their “cultural acceptability”.
in preparation for new releases, for example, Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War saw over 5.2 million torrented downloads in May 2019 alone, despite being released over a year previously, ahead of the cinematic release of the final instalment, Avengers: Endgame. However, it should be noted that the underlying trend of market choice and fragmentation is not a wholly negative blot on the streaming landscape. As Chatterly explains, it can be interpreted to “potentially create further opportunities for content owners to understand their audience with meaningful and valuable insights”. He expands: “These insights should be less a way of unveiling stigmatised behaviour than it is seeing potential opportunities.” “Inspiring change in perceptions and allowing others to see value in these trends rather perpetuating the negative attitude towards audiences that consumer content on unlicensed platforms is important”. Conversely, Sharp and Matthew advise a stringent security policy in order for streaming platforms to protect their intellectual property and retain their subscribed audience.
He adds: “The value of rights will inevitably reduce if the current trends of piracy continue and illegal streaming become the socially acceptable norm. The quality of illegal services is improving to rival legitimate streaming platforms, who, in response to this, are changing their structure to deliberately prevent disruption and enhance usability.”
They argue: “Platforms should definitely increase investment in their security measures and publicise it in as part of a strong media strategy when they do so. A public zero-tolerance policy towards piracy should also enhance public awareness and education on the harm and threats of online piracy, such as information on how to distinguish between legitimate and illegal platforms.”
Research published by MUSO illustrates this trend, highlighting that nearly 190 billion visits were made to illegal piracy websites in 2018, of which 17.4 billion visits were made in the US and 5.75 billion were made in the UK.
Furthermore, Nick Fitzpatrick, partner and global co-chair of media, sport and entertainment at DLA Piper, recommends that firms’ strategy should account for how their service is pitched to consumers.
Sharp and Matthew reiterate: “There is a belief by some sectors of society that certain content should be available via Freeview or satellite channels, as most subscription services contain advertising which disrupts the stream.”
He highlights: “Is the service designed in the relevant territory to be suitable as the main subscription taken by the customer? In which case, the key will always be access to premium local content in core local sports—the ‘must have’ rights in the territory. If it marketed as a secondary or complimentary subscription, then the price point is clearly key.”
MUSO’s streaming subscriber survey also found that just over half of respondents were either likely or very likely to turn to piracy to access content that is unavailable on legitimate platforms. The threat posed to legitimate streaming services by piracy platforms is somewhat enhanced by so-called ‘bingeing culture’, which sees viewers watch content back-to-back 15 IPPro
Whether piracy continues to plague streaming platforms remains to be seen; however, if it follows the same snowball trend as cable piracy, then these sites may be here to stay until the content streaming environment solves its own fragmentation. www.ippromagazine.com
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Industry Events
Industry Events 2019 AIPPI World Congress
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AIPF 2019 Annual Meeting Alexandria, VA, USA
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