Tag Archives: IPEC

Searching for a safe harbor

Posted on by

TorrentFreak reported a few days ago that Google has filed an amicus brief in the appeals case against torrent search engine isoHunt:

Google has been keeping an eye on the legal battle between the MPAA and isoHunt as last week, out of nowhere, the company unexpectedly got involved in the motion for summary judgment appeal. The search giant, which has always stayed far away from these types of cases, filed an amicus cuiae brief (third party testimony) at the Appeal Court.

“This cases raises issues about the interpretation and application of the safe-harbor provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 et seq. (“DMCA”) and common-law rules governing claims for secondary copyright infringement. Google has a strong interest in both issues,” Google’s counsel writes.

Talk about understatement.  You can read Google’s 39-page brief for yourself over on Scribd — thanks to PaidContent for posting.

TechDirt posted additional commentary late yesterday suggesting that Google’s stance in the isoHunt appeal is mostly about its own ongoing litigation with Viacom:

Google argues that as long as YouTube took down any content it received a takedown notice on, it was in compliance and protected by safe harbors. Viacom leaned heavily on the IsoHunt ruling, to claim that the DMCA doesn’t just cover takedown notice responses, but also requires a response to “red flag” infringement.

However, Google knows that the IsoHunt ruling is basically the only legal precedent out there that reads the DMCA in this manner. So, from Google’s perspective, dumping that reasoning is key. So its amicus brief still argues that IsoHunt is guilty of contributory infringement, a la the Grokster standard, but not because of red flag infringement.

The last thing Google wants is to be liable for copyright infringement under the DMCA every time there is a “red flag” that infringement is taking place; that would be the end of Internet search engines as we know them.

Of course, Google’s business strategy isn’t merely to file amicus briefs and hope for the best; the search giant has also recently taken proactive steps to reduce its liability, including turning off autocomplete results for torrent-related searches.  I guess this is what the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) meant by “dialogue”, as detailed in her recent report:

the IPEC has facilitated and encouraged dialogue among the different private sector Internet intermediaries that contribute to the dynamic nature and functioning of the Internet, including payment processors, search engines and domain name registrars and registries. These entities are uniquely positioned to enhance efforts of rightholders and law enforcement to combat infringing activity and help reduce the distribution of infringing content in a manner consistent with our commitment to the principles of fair process, freedom of expression and other important public policy concerns. We believe that most companies share the view that providing services to infringing sites is inconsistent with good corporate business practice and we are beginning to see several companies take the lead in pursuing voluntary cooperative action.

I’m not sure how “voluntary” this really is — or whether “fair process” and “freedom of expression” accurately describes a “dialogue” written under a Damoclesian sword of statutory copyright damages and domain name seizures.  But I will agree that ruinous lawsuits and seizures are “inconsistent with good corporate business practice”.

Hat tip to Keith Lowery for sending me the link to the original TorrentFreak story.

Seizing the spotlight

Posted on by

One of the items highlighted in Monday’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) report (92 page PDF–see here for my previous post) was government seizures of various domain names allegedly associated with infringing comment.  Bruce Lidi over at ZeroPaid makes a compelling argument that the publicity associated with such tactics is counter-productive at best:

As nearly every analysis of the recent ICE action has noted, by seizing the US registered domain names of foreign-owned and operated sites, the authorities have propelled the sites to set up on domains not under US control, and to do so within days, if not hours, of the seizures….It would appear that aside from a very momentary interruption, the practical effect of the seizures will be negligible, except to make any future actions by rights holders that much more difficult, since the targeted sites will be farther from US jurisdiction.

Additionally, and even more importantly, the recent ICE domain seizures that focused on sports streaming sites has had, and will continue to have, the effect of generating more publicity for this kind of infringing.  Consistent with the concept of the “Streisand Effect,” attempts to suppress troublesome information online result invariably in that information becoming even more widely distributed.  While impossible to quantify with any certainty, the seizures by ICE surely increased awareness of the existence of rojadirecta and atdhe, and even more, of the ease in which viewers can access live streaming of sporting events online.  As we so often see in articles about “cord-cutting,” or dropping cable in favor of purely internet video delivery, many people are stymied by the lack of live sports online, yet now, because of the actions of ICE, millions more viewers have just been instructed that it is actually quite simple to get live footage of every soccer match or football game.

Lidi’s analysis reminded me of countless debates I’ve read about U.S. military policy.  Some people favor a “shock and awe” approach while others think that “winning over hearts and minds” is the way to go.  Unfortunately for the content industry, I’m not sure that they’re ever going to win people over completely to their way of thinking.  Anyone who claims that, as a practical matter, people don’t have the right to rip their owned CD into Mp3’s (article from 2008 but still true–see the RIAA’s current website) has completely lost touch with reality.

U.S. intellectual property enforcement actions: the report

Posted on by

CNET News alerted me to yesterday’s release of the 2010 U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement (92 page PDF):

The 92-page report…reads a lot like a report that could have been prepared by lobbyists for the recording or movie industry: it boasts the combined number of FBI and Homeland Security infringement investigations jumped by a remarkable 40 percent from 2009 to 2010.

Nowhere does the right to make fair use of copyrighted material appear to be mentioned, although in an aside on one page Espinel mentions that the administration wants to protect “legitimate uses of the Internet and… principles of free speech and fair process.”

This is the first annual report released by the Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (official website) since its creation in late 2008 and the Senate confirmation of the first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (“copyright czar”) in late 2009.  Although it covers a wide range of intellectual property issues, I will mostly limit this post to copyright-related items.

Here are some “highlights” from the report:

1.  Policy statement regarding Internet enforcement actions (pp. 5-6):

The debate over the proper role of government in the online environment extends to the issue of intellectual property enforcement: that is, reducing the distribution of pirated or counterfeit goods online or via the Internet, including digital products distributed directly over the Internet or physical products advertised or ordered via the Internet. The choices made in the area of intellectual property enforcement can have spillover effects for government action, regulation or intervention in other areas. Therefore, this office has given considerable thought to the best approach towards enforcement in the online environment. As outlined below, we believe the right approach is one that combines forceful criminal law enforcement with voluntary and cooperative action by the private sector consistent with principles of transparency and fair process. [emphasis added]

Almost as an after-thought, the report later notes (p. 7) that,

without mandating business models, we believe it is important to encourage the development of alternatives for consumers that meet their legitimate needs and preferences. We note some activity in the marketplace to develop new and more flexible methods of distribution and will look for opportunities to support those efforts.

2.  Summary of the current state of the proposed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) (Wikipedia backgrounder) (pp. 22-23):

ACTA requires, among other things, that signatories establish effective intellectual property enforcement legal frameworks, including obligations to:

  • establish criminal procedures and penalties for willful trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy, or importation or use, on a commercial scale, and aiding and abetting criminal conduct, and authorizes criminalizing camcording;
  • establish laws that impose imprisonment and destruction as penalties for criminal violations of enforcement laws;
  • establish civil enforcement laws that enhance the tools available to rightholders to crack down on counterfeiting and piracy, including by providing for meaningful damages for rightholders, the destruction of counterfeit goods and also including appropriate safeguards against abuse and to protect privacy as appropriate;
  • ensure that civil and criminal enforcement laws are equally applicable to copyright infringement occurring online; and
  • establish anti-circumvention laws to protect the use of technological protection measures (digital locks).

3.  Summary of successful efforts to recruit private-sector actors into IP enforcement (pp. 27-28)

We believe that most companies share the view that providing services to infringing sites is inconsistent with good corporate business practice and we are beginning to see several companies take the lead in pursuing voluntary cooperative action.

For example, earlier this year, MasterCard withdrew services from Limewire, a well-known file-sharing site. In addition, MasterCard has done an internal assessment of its processes to address infringing sites and has begun a number of cooperative discussions with rightholders….On December 2, 2010, Google announced a number of steps it will take to make its response time to complaints more rapid, to limit the ability of websites used to sell infringing goods to obtain ad revenue and to increase access to legitimate sites….We need to eliminate financial gain derived from infringement. While some products are sold directly, other sites obtain revenue from advertising. The IPEC is in the process of gathering information about the online advertising business to see if there are means to limit illegal sites from using ad revenue as a business model.

4.  Statistical summary of (generally) increased investigations/enforcement/arrests/convictions/seizures (pp. 31-32):

  • In FY 2010, ICE HSI intellectual property investigations increased by more than 41% and ICE HSI arrests increased by more than 37% from FY 2009.
  • In FY 2010, FBI intellectual property investigations increased by more than 44% from FY 2009….
  • In FY 2010, courts sentenced 207 intellectual property defendants. More than half—121—received no prison term, 38 received sentences of 1-12 months in prison, 27 received sentences of 13-24 months in prison, 10 received sentences of 25-36 months in prison, 7 received sentences of 37-60 months in prison and 4 received sentences of more than 60 months in prison….
  • CBP and ICE HSI had 19,959 intellectual property seizures in FY 2010. The domestic value of the seized goods—i.e., the value of the infringing goods, not the  manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) for legitimate product—was $188.1 million. The estimated MSRP of the seized goods—i.e., the value the infringing goods would have had if they had been genuine—was $1.4 billion.

***

A final note:  the report trumpets success–a lot.  Examples abound, but perhaps the most amusing is a case involving counterfeit Cisco equipment sold to the Marines for use in battlefield-critical networks in Iraq.  I’m certainly glad that the government caught this, but do they really have to mention it three separate times (on pages 5, 41, and 50) in the report?

Roundup of additional commentary: