The NFL, NBA, and UFC have a live-streaming problem and they're asking the feds for help.
Essentially, these major sports brands say that traditional Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedowns are too slow when it comes to live-streamed events. By the time the takedowns are issued, the game or match being pirated is already over, making the DMCA takedown requests mostly useless.
The solution, TorrenFreak reports, is a faster shutdown process. "Many online service providers...frequently take hours or even days to remove content in response to takedown notices," the organizations write in a letter to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The DCMA requires providers to remove offending content "expeditously," but does not define what that means. As such, the NFL, NBA, and UFC want the USPTO to clarify the section of the DMCA that deals with this issue to allow for content to be removed "instantaneously or near-instantaneously in response to a takedown request."
Live-stream providers, meanwhile, should impose tougher verification measures, the letter says.
"Those include limiting livestream capabilities to users that have cleared certain verification measures; limiting the ability of newly created accounts to livestream; restricting viewership of livestreams posted by newly created accounts or accounts with few subscribers; and/or limiting livestream capabilities to users with a certain number of subscribers," the organizations argue.
Some services already do this, "demonstrating that the measures are feasible, practical and important tools to reduce livestream piracy," the letter says.
Sports networks make a bulk of their money on live broadcasts, and that content loses much of its value after its initial live run. The argument for more stringent DMCA rules revolves around that central premise. After all, these sports brands host some of the largest sporting events every year, and they stand to lose a lot if it's pirated by a large number of people.
In fact, pirated streams cost the global sports industry nearly $28 billion in revenue every year, according to the filing. The companies also lament the fact that websites that host pirated streams advertise on social media and even have subscription services available for pirated streams. The goal is that with faster DMCA takedown requests and more stringent requirements for live streaming in general, such services would become much harder to maintain, leading to more people switching to legal streaming.
