Tanielian and Kampan (2019)
Contents
Source Details
| Tanielian and Kampan (2019) | |
| Title: | Saving online copyright: Virtual markets need real intervention |
| Author(s): | Adam R. Tanielian, Pakinee Kampan |
| Year: | 2019 |
| Citation: | Taneilian, A.R. and Kampan, P. (2019) Saving online copyright: Virtual markets need real intervention. The Journal of World Intellectual Property / Early View |
| Link(s): | Definitive |
| Key Related Studies: | |
| Discipline: | |
| Linked by: | |
| About the Data | |
| Data Description: | Data were obtained through a five-year long observational study of copyright infringement in popular film and TV (totalling approx. 10,000 works). The observational study consisted of researchers attempting to access illegal channels via search engines. |
| Data Type: | Primary data |
| Secondary Data Sources: | |
| Data Collection Methods: | |
| Data Analysis Methods: | |
| Industry(ies): | |
| Country(ies): | |
| Cross Country Study?: | No |
| Comparative Study?: | No |
| Literature review?: | No |
| Government or policy study?: | No |
| Time Period(s) of Collection: |
|
| Funder(s): | |
Abstract
“The internet is a treasure chest of infringing or “pirated” entertainment media, which viewers from around the world access, copy, and share with relative ease. Data and qualitative reviews suggest infringement is ubiquitous in the streaming and downloading domain. The current approach to copyright enforcement places undue burdens on copyright owners who cannot economically advance claims against millions of individual users. Poorly constructed copyright laws and misguided Court decisions have left rights‐holders with too few remedies against commercial entities involved in the storage, retrieval, transmission, access, and streaming of their works. A five‐year exploratory and observational study were conducted to discover facts about online pirate media, how services function, how companies make money, and how they skirt around laws prohibiting unauthorized commercial exploitation of copyright. Sites discovered had multimillion‐dollar valuations and annual revenues, mostly derived from third‐party advertisements. The study found numerous deficiencies in copyright legislation and judicial interpretation that enable massive online infringement to continue. Recommendations include statutory and regulatory amendments, judicial reversals, reconstruction of the law, and development of a binding, compulsory mechanism similar to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers’ domain name trademark dispute resolution system.”
Main Results of the Study
The study demonstrates the ease through which pirated material may be accessed over a prolonged period, regardless of age or obscurity of the title searched for, and with minimal tech-savvy on behalf of the searcher. The researchers were able to access almost every critically acclaimed cinematographic work from the past 40 years.
Pirate websites operate in much the same fashion as e.g. YouTube, in that content is delivered from user-to-user and advertisements remain their largest source of revenue (with some pirate websites even e.g. interrupting mid-video to display an advertisement). However, pirate websites are still potentially dangerous with security threats which were only avoided through anti-virus software; this includes malicious domain requests, malvertisement redirects and fake tech support etc.
The study concludes that the US DMCA has been ineffective in curbing copyright infringement given the relative ease through which the researchers were able to access illegal content.
Policy Implications as Stated By Author
Commercially infringing cyberlockers should not be able to use a safe harbour defence. The study suggests a range of public and private enforcement suggestions, including e.g. specific file takedowns, suspension of net neutrality rules, and international alternative dispute resolutions. However, the study cautions against any enforcement actions against end-users where they access pirate sites for private, noncommercial purposes.
