Piracy - CMU | the music business explained

Web-blocks fail to “address the root causes of piracy”, VPN trade body tells copyright owners

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Piracy • 2 min read

Web-blocks fail to “address the root causes of piracy”, VPN trade body tells copyright owners

French broadcaster Canal+ is trying to get web-blocking orders against a number of VPNs in a bid to block football piracy sites. However, VPN operators argue that forcing web-blocking onto their networks won’t stop piracy but will undermine “digital freedom for millions of French residents”…

Chris Cooke • 10 Feb 2025

Movie producers and publishers want US to implement web-blocking to halt piracy

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Web blocking • 2 min read

Movie producers and publishers want US to implement web-blocking to halt piracy

Web-blocking is an anti-piracy tactic of choice for the music industry, but is not an option under US copyright law. The copyright industries would like that to change, and some optimism was expressed last week at an Anti-Piracy Symposium that web-blocking will be available in the US at some point…

Chris Cooke • 28 Jan 2025

French Supreme Court says bank had right to stop taking payments for file-storage platform on piracy grounds

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1fichier.com • 2 min read

French Supreme Court says bank had right to stop taking payments for file-storage platform on piracy grounds

In 2015, Société Générale stopped providing services to file-storage platform 1fichier.com because of complaints it hadn’t done enough to stop copyright infringement. It argued that copyright complaints were not grounds for cutting it off, but the French Supreme Court has now ruled that they were…

Chris Cooke • 24 Jan 2025

Record industry welcomes Notorious Markets Report putting spotlight on bulletproof ISPs

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Piracy • 2 min read

Record industry welcomes Notorious Markets Report putting spotlight on bulletproof ISPs

The US Trade Representative last week published its annual Notorious Markets Report, running through key piracy gripes of the American IP industries. Although counterfeit medicines are a particular focus this year, music industry concerns are also summarised, including those pesky bulletproof ISPs…

Chris Cooke • 14 Jan 2025

Music piracy in Europe down 75% in seven years, and significantly behind TV piracy

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Piracy • 2 min read

Music piracy in Europe down 75% in seven years, and significantly behind TV piracy

The EU’s Intellectual Property Office has published its latest report on piracy across Europe. Although music piracy in 2023 was up slightly, it’s down significantly compared to 2017. Europeans are also illegally accessing unlicensed TV services much more frequently than they are pirating music…

Chris Cooke • 02 Dec 2024

More anti-piracy web-blocks issued in France against Cloudflare and Google DNS resolvers

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Piracy • 3 min read

More anti-piracy web-blocks issued in France against Cloudflare and Google DNS resolvers

Earlier this year French broadcaster Canal+ secured a web-blocking order forcing three DNS resolvers to block access to sports piracy websites. On the back of that win it has secured yet more web-blocks, despite the tech companies insisting that forcing web-blocking on DNS resolvers is a bad idea…

Chris Cooke • 28 Nov 2024

Cloudflare says EU piracy list should focus on “truly bad actors”, not companies like Cloudflare

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Cloudflare • 3 min read

Cloudflare says EU piracy list should focus on “truly bad actors”, not companies like Cloudflare

The EU is currently compiling the next edition of its Piracy Watch List, with rightsholders submitting lists of their main piracy concerns. In some cases that includes grievances about internet services companies like Cloudflare. But that’s not what the Watch List should be about, insists Cloudflare…

Chris Cooke • 08 Nov 2024

Internet companies say anti-piracy web-blocks “can fragment the global internet”

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Piracy • 3 min read

Internet companies say anti-piracy web-blocks “can fragment the global internet”

Web-blocking is an anti-piracy tactic of choice for the music industry with music companies now seeking web-blocks against DNS resolvers as well as ISPs. This move has been criticised by a group of internet companies in a submission to the US government, which say it “fragments the global internet”…

Chris Cooke • 31 Oct 2024

“Bulletproof” ISPs in the spotlight as RIAA submits annual piracy gripes to US government’s ‘notorious markets’ report

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Piracy • 2 min read

“Bulletproof” ISPs in the spotlight as RIAA submits annual piracy gripes to US government’s ‘notorious markets’ report

The US government is putting together its annual notorious markets report, which lists piracy sites of concern. The record industry has made its submission. Whereas last year concerns about AI vocal clones were included, this year’s contribution focuses on more conventional types of music piracy…

Chris Cooke • 14 Oct 2024

Appeals court cuts major label payouts in Grande ISP copyright infringement case

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Grande Communications • 3 min read

Appeals court cuts major label payouts in Grande ISP copyright infringement case

There’s been an important ruling in the major labels’ music piracy case against Grande Communications. A US appeals court has confirmed the ISP is liable for copyright infringement, rejecting a new argument based on a 2023 Supreme Court ruling. However, the damages bill will be cut back…

Chris Cooke • 11 Oct 2024

The majors also want the US Supreme Court to intervene in the Cox case

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Cox Communications • 4 min read

The majors also want the US Supreme Court to intervene in the Cox case

The major record companies have asked the US Supreme Court to intervene in their dispute with Cox Communications. They had been set to receive a billion dollars in damages, but an appeals court ruling could see that figure slashed. The majors want the appeals ruling reversed…

Chris Cooke • 21 Aug 2024

Hollywood movie studios aim to put web-blocking back on the agenda in US Congress

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Piracy • 3 min read

Hollywood movie studios aim to put web-blocking back on the agenda in US Congress

Web-blocking is now the music industry’s anti-piracy tactic of choice in countries where it is available. However, web-blocking is still not an option in the US, where attempts to add it to copyright law in 2012 resulted in a major backlash. Hollywood thinks it is time for Congress to reconsider…

Chris Cooke • 11 Apr 2024