News

By Chris Tribbey

For a long time now, illegal downloading and illegal streaming of copyright-protected content have been treated very differently, with the former earning offenders a felony, and the latter garnering only a misdemeanor slap on the wrist.

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) are asking the federal government to start treating streaming of illegal content just as harshly as downloading, and fast.

In a letter to the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Office of Management and Budget, the two groups call for legislation that would make illegal streaming a felony, something that was attempted several years ago with the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, but has yet to become law.

“While illegal downloading of our members’ creative works remains the best known method of Internet theft, illegal Internet streaming has actually become the preferred viewing and listening experience,” the groups said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the law has not kept pace with these new consumer habits. While illegal downloading and distribution is a felony, the illegal, willful, and commercial streaming of films, TV programs, and music remains only a misdemeanor. We believe that the law should reflect the reality of the digital world.”

DGA and IATSE submitted the letter in response to the White House’s call for thoughts on where the U.S. should put its priorities in terms of intellectual property enforcement, as part of a new, three-year Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement for 2016-2019. Danny Marti, the U.S. intellectual property enforcement coordinator at the White House Office of Management and Budget, said in a statement that the worldwide market for pirated and counterfeited goods may be as high as $1.8 trillion in 2015, and is growing at an annual rate of 22%, and new tactics may be needed to fight content theft.

“The Obama Administration is committed to continuing to be vigilant in addressing threats to intellectual property — including corporate and state sponsored trade secret misappropriation — that jeopardize our status as the world’s leader for innovation and creativity, pose a considerable threat to public health and safety, undermine legitimate business, and harm other national interests,” he said.

As far back as 2011, the Obama Administration has suggested streaming illegal content be treated just as criminally serious as downloading, but nearly five years later, the law still hasn’t been amended to tackle the problem. DGA and IATSE are urging the government to change that, and fast.

“Quite simply, the Commercial Felony Streaming Act would not have criminalized any behavior that was not already considered criminal,” their letter reads. “Instead, it would have equalized the penalty so that digital thieves would not be free to steal content via streaming when they would be prosecuted as a felony were they to do so via a download.”

Additionally, the groups called for an update to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which was enacted in 1998, when digital downloading and streaming wasn’t prevalent. DGA and IATSE said content owners don’t have “the resources necessary to police the Internet and seek out thousands of instances of infringement, which often reappear in the same or a similar location as soon as the next day,” and better take-down notice procedures need to be put in place.

For more on the 2016-2019 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, click here.