The Net Gets Real on Copyrights

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Large Players Helping to Stem Abuses

Make no mistake: Copyrighted material is still ending up on user-generated sites, even those owned by big companies. In March, Viacom (VIA) sued Google for the frequent appearance of its material on YouTube, despite multiple takedown requests (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/14/07, "Viacom's Suit Won't Snuff Out YouTube,").

Yet by and large, companies are doing far more to stem abuse, and allowing nowhere near the level of infringement in years past, piracy experts say. Google has worked with content identification companies such as Audible Magic to better keep copyrighted material from its site. "We are beginning tests on an automated system to identify and match specific videos," YouTube co-founder Steve Chen wrote in a June blog post. "We are working with some of the major media companies to test what we have developed."

In response to a January subpoena, Google and community site LiveDigital cooperated with News Corp.'s Fox network concerning the illegal leak of unaired episodes of the hit television show 24, as well as several episodes of The Simpsons (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/26/07, "Google and YouTube: A Catch-22,"). The information they gave on the alleged source of the leak led to a criminal complaint against a Chicago man by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. If convicted, the man could serve up to three years in jail.

Foreign Players Not as Respectful

The Justice Dept. has won more than 100 felony convictions for copyright infringement in the U.S. in the past five years, thanks in part to large-scale FBI operations and the increased cooperation of Web sites that turn over information on users who post illegal material. Last month, for example, it won a conviction against a Los Angeles man who uploaded the movie Walk the Line on the Internet before it was available for home viewing.

Despite evidence that content creators' hard-fought efforts to get U.S. businesses to respect intellectual property are working, copyright violations are still rampant on the Web. The reason, says Garland, is that there are still many non-U.S. businesses that don't have the same respect for intellectual property and many more technologies that allow people to share files but are not part of any business entity that can be held accountable. In fact, the amount of pirated material on the Web is growing, says Garland. For example, from June, 2006, to June, 2007, the number of users at any given moment on just one prominent peer-to-peer network that primarily handles illegally uploaded content grew 186%, to 1,246,705.

So what are content creators to do when there's no large company to sue? Garland says high-profile suits are a deterrent if done correctly, but they're unlikely to stem the problem. Another suggested tactic is to demand the Internet service providers to watch what their users do and terminate accounts that upload pirated material. However, such a move is unlikely, given that ISPs are reluctant to take steps that would be seen as an intrusion on their customers' privacy.

Once content is in the public domain, Garland says there is little that content creators can do to keep it from being uploaded to the Web. Their best hope may be to try to track it and make money from it by appending advertising. However, companies can do something about leaks such as the one that led to rampant online spoilers of the Harry Potter ending: Keep copies to a minimum and only give them to trusted executives with locked briefcases. Adds Garland: "Protect it the old fashioned way."

Holahan is a writer for BusinessWeek.com in New York.