Transcript Group 2: Vilaylak, Wagner, and Lam

A Look at Online
Piracy of Movies
and Music
Johnny Lam
Randi Wagner
Davina Vilaylak
Introduction
• Online piracy is associated with copyright
infringement
o Copyright infringement is defined as unauthorized
distribution or use of copyrighted works
• Opponents use the term online piracy because they
see copyright violators as pirates that ravaged
ships
• Proponents use the term to
recollect the romanticism of
the pirate lifestyle which is the
epitome of individual freedom
and liberation
Introduction (cont.)
• Online piracy results in:
violation of intellectual property rights
o in monetary losses
o artistic and creative development being threatened
o
• Opponents argue…
o there are significant losses in profit
o music is not only produced by the artist but also support staff such as
engineers, designers, etc.
o Reduces the incentive to produce music
• Proponents argue…
o Profit loss is minimal
o People who engage in pirating would not purchase the product
anyways
o People sample music by pirating and purchase CDs if they like it
• There has been no substantial and definitive evidence to
support either side’s claim
Introduction (cont.)
• Online piracy mainly consists of audio and video
content, but it can also include
o Software
o Books
o Other forms of intellectual property
• Occurs mainly because it is cheaper and more
convenient than most legal means
Introduction (cont.)
• Online piracy is possible because of many
technological factors
o High volume, inexpensive digital storage media
o Compression formats allowing files to be downloaded,
copied and stored more easily
o High speed internet allowing for quick transfer of large files
o Peer to peer technology
• There are mainly two intermediaries for online
piracy: the internet and peer to peer file sharing
Here are some facts…
Some more interesting tidbits…
Recent Online Piracy Legislation
• The goal of SOPA & PIPA is to combat foreign
websites that engage in counterfeiting and violate
copyrights
• Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
o Allows intellectual property owners to shut down foreign
sites that infringe copyrighted works
• Protect IP Act (PIPA)
o Requires companies to block domain names of websites
Why did they create SOPA?
Piracy of Video Content
• One of the most commonly pirated materials are
movies and television shows.
• Posting a video on the Web that features
copyrighted content is illegal, but the practice is still
extremely common.
• While many companies have taken measures in
order to stop piracy, it still continues strongly.
Reasons for Piracy of Video Content
• Cost
• People often want to share short clips from videos
with friends.
• People want to edit down movies/TV shows for
other creative reasons
• Some have otherwise no access to TV show/movie
• It’s fairly easy to do and can sometimes yield a
profit
Piracy and the Entertainment Industry
• Study on whether or not pirated movies hurt box
office performances
o Experiment- Using a variety of controls, researchers compared
ticket sales before and after BitTorrent
• Researchers most interested in seeing the effect of release lag
on ticket sales
o Result- They found that the greater the lag in the release of the
film, the more piracy occurred, and the film would lose money
• Science fiction/action movies pirated the most
o Impatience and piracy
Piracy and the Entertainment Industry
• A report on the study also mentioned the effect on
television studios
• NBC- removed its content from iTunes after being
unable to settle a contract with Apple
• Shortly afterward, NBC shows became much more
frequently pirated
• The study cites that piracy often occurs when there
is no other alternative to viewing the content
Piracy and the Entertainment Industry
• An article from Forbes.com suggests that the
entertainment industry might in fact be
exaggerating about the effect of piracy.
• The article suggests there is no clear link between
fewer sales and the amount of piracy
o It is also noted that, typically, the most pirated movies are also the
highest performing at the box office
Strategies to Combat Piracy
• SOPA/PIPA
o Designed to stop websites from allowing users to post copyrighted
material
o Seen as a threat to sites like YouTube and Facebook
• YouTube “copyright school”
o Interestingly, YouTube has set up a class of sorts where those who
repeatedly pirate content will become educated in the law to
hopefully change their ways
o Regardless, if a user is reported for piracy three times, their
account is suspended
Strategies to Combat Piracy
• An L.A. Times article also mentions how YouTube
searches out its piracy violators.
o By having companies submit large sections of their work (movies
or television shows), bots can search through the uploaded
YouTube videos for content that is too similar to source material
• It is also considered a felony to record in a movie
theater.
Audio Piracy
• While piracy of audio is
little compared to the
piracy of movies and
television shows. It is still
a step in showing how
piracy evolved from
just music to many
other types of digital
media.
History of Audio Piracy
(Before the Internet)
• It was easy to catch people with physical evidence
when it became detected.
• 1976, Copyright Revision Act made infringement of
copyright for commercial or private financial gain
illegal.
• 1982, it became a felony.
• And in 1992, the stakes went up to 5 yrs in prison
and $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for
organizations.
History Cont’d
(After the Internet)
• The first real threat to the both the music and music
industry were the combination of the MP3 and the
Internet.
o MP3 (MPEG-1, Layer 3) is a compression/ decompression format that
enabled users to download from CDs, or share recordings w/ friends
online.
o While not the only recording tool out there it was the first noticeable one.
Napster
• Opened in 1999 as song copying service.
• Had < 50 million users a year later.
• A survey said that 3000 out of 4000 students used
Napster at least once a month.
• Many people thought that the success of Napster
was the finish of copyright.
• Sued by 18 companies for copyright infringement.
Strategies to Combat Piracy
• With the threat of the MP3, all record labels were
encouraged to engage in learning about the
development to minimize potential damage from
this disruptive technology.
• The companies must accept the changing
environment and use the technology to their
advantage while safeguarding their copyrights.
iTunes
• Pros
o Do not need to pay for costs of disks and its packaging.
o Makes use of current online technology.
• Cons
o Makes it easier to download easily and send it to others.
Conclusion
• Online piracy is very hard to stop, and stopping the
internet’s growth is almost impossible.
• Corporations will have to deal with the new
technology by adapting to it and using it to their
advantage.
The End
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