Intellectual Property Law

"Online Piracy Menaces Pro Sports"

By Marty Schwimmer

Ny Times: Online Piracy Meances Pro Sports:

In combating piracy, one method of enforcement is off limits, executives say. They will not, like the music industry did, sue individual fans who are uploading games to peer-to-peer platforms.

?I?d like to think we?ve learned some cautionary lessons from the music industry,? said Mr. Mellis of M.L.B. ?What is the utility in suing individuals who are part of a larger chain of events??

So a steady flow of cease-and-desist letters flow out of the offices of each league?s law firms. Moral suasion is used on foreign governments ? M.L.B., for example, has been in discussions with the Chinese government about shutting sites there. Sometimes it works: Sopcast, a service that was begun as a project at Fudan University in Shanghai, now blocks M.L.B. games. (Virtually every other sport?s games can still be seen over the service).

Full post as published by Trademark Blog on December 29, 2008 (boomark / email).