A Look at Online Piracy of Movies

and MusicJohnny Lam

Randi WagnerDavina Vilaylak

Introduction• Online piracy is associated with copyright

infringemento 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 ravagedships

• Proponents use the term torecollect the romanticism ofthe pirate lifestyle which is the epitome of individual freedom and liberation

Introduction (cont.)• Online piracy results in:

o violation of intellectual property rights o in monetary losseso artistic and creative development being threatened

• 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 minimalo People who engage in pirating would not purchase the product

anywayso 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 includeo Softwareo Bookso 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 factorso High volume, inexpensive digital storage mediao Compression formats allowing files to be downloaded,

copied and stored more easilyo High speed internet allowing for quick transfer of large

fileso 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 performanceso 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 saleso 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 piracyo It is also noted that, typically, the most pirated movies are also

the highest performing at the box office

Strategies to Combat Piracy

• SOPA/PIPAo Designed to stop websites from allowing users to post

copyrighted materialo 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.

• Conso 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 EndBaase, Sara. A Gift of Fire. New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008. Print.

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DJ Summit. “Piracy: Deliberate Infringement of a Copyright.” DJ Summit. computerdjsummit.com. 2007. Web. 7 August 2012. http://www.computerdjsummit.com/members/documents/piracy.html.

 Himmelman, Peter, et al. “Pirate Nation”. YouTube. Youtube.com. 17 July 2010. Web. 7 August 2012.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwQrq1dBHl0.

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at-the-numbers/.

Moyer, Michael. "Does Digital Piracy Really Hurt Movies?." Scientific American 306.5 (2012): 25. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 July 2012.

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Smith, Lamar. “A FBIT anti-piracy warning text.” Picture. CNN. Cnn.com. 20 January 2012. Web. 7 August 2012. http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/20/opinion/smith-sopa-support/index.html.

Willington, Ray. “Google Forces YouTube Piracy Violators to Attend ‘Copyright School’.” Hot Hardware. Hothardware.com. 16 April 2011. Web. 30 July 2012. http://hothardware.com/News

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References