The UFC joined the NBA and NFL in addressing issues with live streaming piracy. In a joint letter sent to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the leagues took issue with the delay in which online service providers responds to a DMCA notice. The company also sent its own letter to the USPTO to the governmental agency as it sought public comment on the subject of “Future Strategies in Anticounterfeiting and Antipiracy.”
Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a copyright holder may request an online service provider and/or internet service provider to takedown alleged infringing material upon receipt of a valid DMCA notice. However, the UFC, NBA and NFL claim that service providers do not act quick enough. Notably, they cite the short timeframe for games and fights which give little time for OSP/ISP to act.
In its own letter to the USPTO, the UFC cites the fact that fans are less likely to purchase its pay per views if they know that they can find an online source to watch the fights or at least see the “fight finishes.”
The UFC also questioned the current DMCA as there is no definition to the term, “expeditiously” when it looks to the OSP to act “expeditiously to remove or disable access to” infringing materials upon gaining further knowledge of infringing material or receiving a takedown request. Moreover, the UFC contends that there is a growing trend of OSPs that refuse to comply with US Copyright law.
The UFC, along with the NBA and NFL jointly requested that the definition of “expeditiously” mean “instantaneously or near-instantaneously.”
The letter also addresses the issue of fraudulent trademark registrations and a requests for more evaluations by the USPTO.
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