In line with the annual members meeting, The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy (IBCAP) Year-in-Review Results is a yearly report developed to highlight the Coalition’s work and accomplishments in protecting its members’ content by ensuring that unauthorized services and retailers are shut down and held accountable through a holistic approach to anti-piracy efforts.
Representing more than 200 television channels from Europe, Brazil, the Middle East, and South Asia, the past year has exemplified IBCAP’s commitment to addressing piracy worldwide. This includes:
- The addition of new members to join in the fight against piracy.
- An increase in automation in the IBCAP lab for monitoring and takedown systems.
- A significant settlement agreement with a major content delivery network (CDN) and hosting provider has resonated with other companies providing CDN and hosting services, resulting in increased takedowns.
- An enhanced focus on illegal websites and STB services broadcasting IBCAP member sports rights.
- A lawsuit against the last remaining seller of illegal STB services in Jackson Heights, New York City.
IBCAP EXPANSION AND OPTIMIZATION
IBCAP New Members
In May 2023, IBCAP proudly announced the addition of Times Internet Limited, the owner of Times of India and Cricbuzz, and India’s largest digital products company with over 500 million monthly users. This was a significant win for IBCAP in the fight against piracy. Cricbuzz is the world’s largest digital platform dedicated exclusively to cricket and the official digital streaming partner for the Indian Premier League (IPL) in MENA, Continental Europe, and Latin American regions. Cricbuzz’s commitment to anti-piracy through its IBCAP membership has resulted in fostering legal viewership of cricket worldwide. Our announcement regarding Cricbuzz joining IBCAP can be found here.
In October 2023, Star US LLC, the owner of highly popular channels from India, joined IBCAP. Known for its trendy South Asian content, Star’s television network, which is in nine language groups, reaches more than 700 million viewers across India and more than 100 countries each month. Since Star’s joining, the IBCAP lab and legal teams have successfully removed thousands of illegal streams of Star content. Our announcement about Star’s membership can be found here.
Increased Automation
IBCAP’s lab continues to make strides each year by enhancing its industry-leading automation for monitoring and issuance of takedown notices. We are particularly proud of our proprietary automatic monitoring software for detecting infringing linear channels for STBs. This software utilizes automation to assist in capturing and preserving evidence of infringement occurring in the United States. It sends automated DMCA takedown notices to infringing services, CDNs and hosting companies, which typically results in the removal of illegal streams worldwide. On a monthly basis, the IBCAP lab revises and updates the software code to enable automated monitoring of the most relevant content.
In 2024, the lab plans to step up efforts even further by automating the process for video-on-demand monitoring and takedowns. This project, which IBCAP’s software developers will engage in throughout the remainder of 2024, will serve IBCAP members by allowing for even greater capacity for takedown notices in less time.
IBCAP MEMBER WIN HIGHLIGHTS
Settlement Agreement with Datacamp
In February 2024, as a result of an IBCAP coordinated lawsuit, one of our members received a settlement payment of $3 million from Datacamp Limited, a U.K.-based company that provides global content delivery network (CDN) services under the name CDN77 and dedicated servers and network services under the name Datapacket. This settlement resolved a two-year dispute in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The lawsuit had asserted claims against Datacamp for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement as a result of Datacamp’s allowance for continued use of the company’s services by 11 different pirate services streaming IBCAP member content. Importantly, in July 2023, the federal court in Illinois denied Datacamp’s motion to dismiss, forcing the UK-based company to defend its actions in a U.S. court. In addition to the financial settlement, Datacamp also agreed to follow detailed takedown procedures and enact a repeat infringer policy as outlined in the settlement agreement. Further details on IBCAP’s efforts regarding the Datacamp settlement can be found here.
As a result of the settlement, several CDNs and hosting providers that had historically been non-compliant are now complying with IBCAP’s takedown requests. In the past year, we have seen an approximate 15% increase in IBCAP’s overall takedown rate, which IBCAP largely attributes to the deterrent effect of the Datacamp lawsuit and settlement.
Sports Takedowns
IBCAP is responsible for an industry-leading effect on cricket piracy this past year. During the IPL 2023 tournament, IBCAP disrupted nearly 9,000 streams over the course of the tournament, including more than 3.6 million views disrupted on Facebook Live streams worldwide. Through the swift actions of both the IBCAP team’s analysts in India and the United States, IBCAP sent takedowns in real time during the matches, resulting in a 100% takedown rate for streams on social media and mobile apps identified by the IBCAP lab – a key source of frustration for pirates in their failed bid to avoid the IBCAP team’s efforts. Further information on the IBCAP team’s successes during the IPL 2023 tournament can be found here. The Cricket World Cup 2023 was no exception. During the highly popular tournament, the IBCAP lab removed more than 17,000 streams and disrupted more than 9.5 million views on Facebook Live streams worldwide. Of the STBs monitored, more than 4,000 streams were removed, with a nearly 70% success rate. Of the web live streams monitored, more than 2,000 streams were removed, with a 63% success rate. The takedown rate for both social media and mobile apps, like IPL 2023, was 100%. Though the IPL 2024 tournament is still in progress, efforts have already been highly successful and disruptive.
Massive Wireless and Rays TV Litigation
In December 2023, IBCAP coordinated a lawsuit against ten defendants operating the GloTV service, as well as Massive Wireless, Inc., a New York retailer, its CEO and director, and Rays IPTV LLC, a California distributor and retailer, and its CEO. The complaint was filed on December 13, 2023, in the Eastern District of New York and asserts that the illegal provision of copyrighted IBCAP member content through GloTV directly infringes those copyrights by transmitting 20 television channels and the programs that air on those channels over the internet to users in the United States. The complaint also asserts claims against the remaining defendants for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement. Among other relief, the lawsuit asserts claims for up to $25.5 million in statutory damages. This lawsuit is the culmination of an extended effort by IBCAP to eradicate the sale of illegal IPTV services through local retailers in New York and other multicultural markets such as Detroit. Additional background information about the Massive Wireless litigation can be found here.
ABOUT IBCAP
International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy, Inc. (IBCAP) is a coalition of leading international and U.S. content owners, broadcasters and distributors representing more than 210 television channels from the U.S. and around the world. As the largest anti-piracy organization focused on illicit services offering multicultural content, the nonprofit organization proactively monitors and identifies unauthorized video services, collects evidence and assists with legal actions and criminal investigations against organizations and individuals engaging in pirate activities. IBCAP coordinates with government agencies and law enforcement both in the U.S. and abroad, reports suspected infringers to the appropriate authorities, initiates investigations and promotes the prosecution of persons or companies that participate in the illegal distribution of its members’ video content.
More information is available at www.IBCAP.org. Follow us on LinkedIn.
Issued: May 22, 2024