Pirate IPTV Arrests in Sweden Should Include Users, Rightsholders Tell Govt.
Formerly known as Svenska Antipiratbyrån (Swedish Anti-Piracy Agency), in one form or another, Rights Alliance has been on the front lines of Sweden’s war against piracy for almost 25 years. Most famously, the formation of Antipiratbyrån around 2001 triggered the formation of Piratbyrån (Piracy Agency), the pro-piracy activist group behind the launch of The Pirate Bay. Antipiratbyrån dissolved then reemerged as Rättighetsalliansen...
Threatening Anti-Piracy Messaging Fails to Stimulate Intent to Subscribe
After years of anti-piracy campaigns, there’s a tendency to wonder whether the secret sauce of success is right around the corner or just as elusive as it’s ever been. Yet, even briefly considering the perspective of those creating these campaigns can be a fairly sobering experience. There’s a blank sheet of paper and this campaign has to work, what can it possibly say that hasn’t been said before? Even more important than simply...
‘Make Pay-Per-View Access to Boxing Events Free to Fight Piracy’
In recent years, rightsholders of major sports events have repeatedly complained that piracy of live sports is rising through the roof. They’ve called on lawmakers to tighten legislation and urged law enforcement to take the problem much more seriously. Last month, U.S. authorities took action by seizing several domain names of sports streaming site Streameast, which has millions of monthly users. The seizures were carried out by the...
That’s All Folks: KimCartoon’s 120m Visit Piracy Caper Ends in a DMCA Disaster
It has been a rough couple of weeks for people who love cartoons but prefer not to pay for them. The simultaneous disappearance of Aniwave and the connected Anix last week left a massive hole in the pirate market. The pair serviced at least one, and maybe as many as two, billion visits in the previous 12 months alone. While those platforms focused on Japanese anime, KimCartoon offered a much wider variety of cartoons. From decades-old...
Man Arrested for Sharing Copyright Infringing Nude Scenes Through Reddit
The web is riddled with copyright infringing content, ranging from full-length blockbuster films, through small music samples, to reposted celebrity photos on social media. Not all of these offenses are equally problematic. Law enforcement authorities may go after the operators of large-scale pirate sites or services, but posting short film clips without permission typically doesn’t lead to trouble. Sharing Nude Scenes of Reddit Last...
Internet Archive Loses Landmark E-Book Lending Copyright Appeal Against Publishers
In 2020, publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, John Wiley and Penguin Random House sued the Internet Archive (IA) for copyright infringement, equating its ‘Open Library’ to a pirate site. IA’s library is a non-profit organization that, among other things, scans physical books in-house so these can be lent out to patrons as e-books. This “Controlled Digital Lending” (CDL) practice allows for only one copy of a book to be lent at a time,...
