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“Rogue” Video Site Refuses to Pay Record $42m Piracy Fine
Spotify Wants to Convert More Music Pirates
Hundreds of Paid Informants Help to Rat Out Software Pirates

“Rogue” Video Site Refuses to Pay Record $42m Piracy Fine

Posted: 27 Jun 2014 03:13 AM PDT

Each year the United States Trade Representative publishes a “notorious markets” report detailing international sites whose services operate below U.S. standards of copyright protection. China regularly has at least one company in the list, sometimes several.

Most recently the USTR indirectly called out the Shenzhen QVOD Technology Co., creator of QVOD, a technology designed to enable businesses to distribute their content online using BitTorrent, P2P, and streaming technology.

Earlier this year the company indicated it was taking steps to stop its service being used for the transfer of protected content after the National Copyright Administration said it was infringing. Just just days later, however, QVOD was raided by the police. Adding to its woes, in May the company was found guilty of allowing the distribution of pornographic content via its service.

But despite its overtures towards licensed content, QVOD now has a sizable copyright-related headache to contend with. Following a hearing earlier this month, an authority in Shenzhen hit QVOD with a record-breaking fine equivalent to $42m after finding the company guilty of distributing local movie and TV show content online without rightsholder permission.

“According to our investigation [QVOD] earned 86.7 million yuan ($13.83m) from illegal practices. The fine levied amounts to three times the illegal gains, an amount the law allows,” a spokesman for the Shenzhen Market Supervision Administration said.

After being formally served on QVOD yesterday, the company was given 15 days to pay the fine. Any delays doing so will prove costly, with the authorities adding an additional 3% ($1.26m) to the fine for each day beyond the deadline.

The company does have the right to appeal the decision, either via administrative review or directly to the court within 90 days, but in the meantime QVOD has been ordered to pay the $42m fine. However, local media reports that the company is intending to mount a legal fight back to avoid paying up as required.

QVOD says it will appeal on three points – that the penalties are “unreasonable”, that the company “caused no great harm to society”, and that the company’s video player had no ads or subscription fees to generate profit from users.

A company insider, who spoke with local media on condition of anonymity, said that accepting the fine would mean not being able to pay 400 to 500 employees.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Spotify Wants to Convert More Music Pirates

Posted: 26 Jun 2014 12:42 PM PDT

When Spotify launched its first beta in the fall of 2008 it started a small revolution.

With the option to stream millions of tracks supported by an occasional ad, or free of ads for a small subscription fee, Spotify offered something that’s more convenient than piracy.

In the years that followed Spotify rolled out its music service in more than 60 countries, amassing dozens of millions of users. This has led to a decline in music piracy rates in a few countries, but the problem is far from gone yet.

Spotify Australia’s managing director Kate Vale told Cnet that one of the company’s key goals is to convert those who still get their music via unauthorized channels.

“People that are pirating music and not paying for it, they are the ones we want on our platform. It’s important for us to be reaching these individuals that have never paid for music before in their life, and get them onto a service that’s legal and gives money back to the rights holders,” Vale says.

According to Vale, the music industry was in part to blame for the surge in piracy during the last decade, as the legal alternatives were lacking.

“Until there’s free, legal and timely ways for people to download content, then they’re going to turn to illegal ways of doing it,” she says.

Today the legal options are there in most countries, but getting people to give up their old habits requires time. According to Vale there are still 2.8 million Australians who pirate music on a monthly basis, sharing a total 1 billion songs a year.

In the years ahead Spotify hopes to convert these people with a product that’s superior to piracy. This would mean more revenue for the music industry, and thus a win-win for all.

“If we can get even half of these people onto Spotify or legal services, it means there’s going to be money back in the industry which is good for artists, streaming services like ourselves,” Vale says.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.

Hundreds of Paid Informants Help to Rat Out Software Pirates

Posted: 26 Jun 2014 08:54 AM PDT

Earlier this year we reported on a controversial anti-piracy campaign operated by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

Representing major software companies, the BSA uses Facebook ads which encourage people to report businesses that use unlicensed software. If one of these reports results in a successful court case, the pirate snitch can look forward to a cash reward.

Below is one of the promoted Facebook posts that has appeared in the timelines of thousands of people, encouraging them to expose software piracy in return for hard cash.

BSA’s Facebook ad

While most responses on Facebook are negative, it appears that the campaign is not without results. In an interview with Radio Prague, the spokesman for the Czech branch of the BSA notes that the informant program has been a great success thus far.

“[The campaign is] very successful. We did it because we wanted to catch big fish. In the past, many informants did not want to disclose who they were, and it was difficult to set up serious communication with them.” the BSA’s Jan Hlaváč says.

"The only way out of this was to offer them something that would motivate them to fully cooperate. That's why we decided to launch this programme, to reward information that leads not only to identifying illegal software but to bringing the whole case to the end," he adds.

The cash reward has increased the number of serious tips and in the Czech Republic alone the BSA receives about 30 leads per month. Similar campaigns also run in the United States, Canada, the UK and Australia, where hundreds of tips come in every week.

Some of these tips lead to a follow up investigation where BSA offers the alleged infringer a settlement offer. In the Czech Republic alone there are currently several cases pending, worth roughly $500,000. If a settlement is reached, the informant will get a share, ranging from $5,000 to $200,000.

Another BSA Facebook ad

Earlier this week the BSA released new data (pdf) on piracy levels worldwide, with the rate of unlicensed software decreasing in most western countries.

Between 2011 and 2013 the percentage of unlicensed software installed on computers dropped from 19% to 18% in the United States, and similar downward trends were observed in the UK and elsewhere.

In the Czech Republic piracy rates decreased from 37% to 34%, and according to the BSA this is in part due to the snitch campaign.

“Definitely. The programme has helped a great deal convince companies that the legal risks are not worth it,” Hlaváč says.

Despite this success there is still plenty of work to be done. Globally the percentage of pirate software increased slightly, representing a total value of $62.7 billion, so there’s plenty of bounty left.

Source: TorrentFreak, for the latest info on copyright, file-sharing and anonymous VPN services.