ProMMAnow.com received the following press release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Friday, July 23, 2010:
Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Zuffa, LLC, (“Zuffa”), the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®), announced today that it has served subpoenas on two streaming video websites, commanding them to reveal the identities of users who have uploaded video of live Pay-Per-View UFC events.
The websites, Justin.tv and Ustream.tv, enable anyone with an Internet connection to broadcast live streaming video to an unlimited audience. Although originally developed to bring user-generated content to a large live audience, these sites have been exploited by some users to broadcast illegally uploaded content, including UFC events.
For example, on January 2, 2010, over 36,000 people watched a live streaming feed of the UFC 108 Pay-Per-View event that was uploaded from a single IP address. Less than two months later, on February 21, 2010, that same IP address was used to upload multiple live streaming feeds of the UFC 110 Pay-Per-View event, which was watched by over 78,000 non-paying users. This piracy represents a significant loss of revenue to UFC and their mobile, online, cable and satellite distribution partners each year.
“I can’t wait to go after the thieves that are stealing our content,” said UFC President Dana White. “This is a fight we will not lose.”
Under §512(h) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a copyright owner can obtain a subpoena from a federal court ordering a service provider to disclose the identity of a subscriber who is allegedly engaging in infringing activities. The subpoenas served by Zuffa require Justin.tv and Ustream.tv to disclose information in their possession that Zuffa can use to identify those who have been pirating and rebroadcasting recent UFC events online. With this information in hand, Zuffa will prosecute civil actions against the individuals who have infringed Zuffa’s copyrights.
Zuffa is the largest provider of Pay-Per-View content in the world, and delivers exciting matches to fans in over 430 million households across 147 countries and territories. Zuffa encourages the development of new technology to deliver UFC content to licensed online platforms, mobile devices, and gaming systems. However, Zuffa does not condone the use of streaming video or other new technologies to violate intellectual property laws, and it will vigorously protect its copyrighted content against piracy in any medium.
Those who upload live UFC events as free streaming video harm UFC athletes, arena owners, and hard-working Zuffa employees who have transformed the once-obscure sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) into a successful professional sports organization. The UFC brand has created American jobs in the entertainment, fitness, and clothing industries. Zuffa will continue to fight on the cutting edge of copyright law to defend the intellectual property rights that support American economic growth.
For more information, or current UFC event news, visit UFC.com.
I agree that piracy affects the sport & the fighters in a negative manner, but I’d like to see Zuffa/UFC pay their fighters better. It is widely reported that fighters have fought on UFC cards for as litttle as $3,000USD. The UFC has also banned select companies from sponsoring fighters – that affects the fighters negatively as well. C’mon Dana, you were a millionaire years ago, let’s share the wealth & pay the greatest athletes on the planet what they deserve.
that still doesn’t give people the right to steal. the UFC loses MILLIONS from each event because of this.
https://prommanow.com/index.php/2010/07/23/the-ufc-continues-its-attack-upon-pay-per-view-piracy-subpoenas-two-popular-websites/
I agree fighters deserve the best pay possible but that really has nothing to do with this.
We understand Zuffa’s concerns over copyright infringement. Does it not sound like the dispute between the Recording Industry of America v. Napster back in the late 1990s? What was the result of the controversy over MP3 file sharing of music over the internet? Songs can be bought individually and cost approximately $1.00 and some fans continue to pirate music. Some bands like Radiohead decided they were better off giving away some of their music to fans for free.
Zuffa owns their intellectual property in the UFC fights so it is there decision to make unless an exception like fair use applies. People seem to constantly figure out ways to use technology to avoid paying for intellectual property that entertains them. We strongly persuade Zuffa to consider a less burdensome process then chasing infringers and would lessen the negative impact of infringement. UFC fights should be televised and available like basketball, hockey, etc. so they can achieve a wider audience and acceptance. One politician from NY voted to ban MMA because he though fighters fought to the death. Shift the cost onto advertisers who want to market to MMA’s core demographics. In addition, many foreign countries will not enforce any actions against infringers located there. They do not have the resources and/or the desire to penalize infringers.
Sign out petition to support MMA as a sport on a global scale and send us information on your government if you want them added to the list.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/MMA
There’s no way Zuffa can stop piracy. The music industry is way bigger than Zuffa and didn’t stop Mp3 and illegal downloads.
It’s a battle they are losing, and they will lose in the end.
Plus, Zuffa can chase americans for illegal streamings, but they can’t go after people from other countries.. it’s a worthless fight.
I am sure Dana and Co can dry their tears with some of the $49.95 pay per view bills
Im a bad guy because im costing the ufc millions, oh yeah thats right i would never spend that much money to watch a ufc event. How can you count money lost if I never would have watched it anyway. I wont go to bars unless I can get a pitcher for less than 8 dollars, I cut my own hair to save 30 bucks a month. Why the hell would I ever spend 55 bucks for maybe three hours of entertainment.
LOL u do make a good point boozeornews, however I’m sure there are those out there who would buy it if they couldn’t get it for free…. just a hunch.
WTF White? Ever think poor people love the sport but cant afford 1G a year in ppv bills. These sites promote popularity of mma therefore good for fatcat Whites bottomline. All Danas done for mma isnt love its greed. Hes the Lars of MMA . You lose the fans, you make zero. If UFC decide to go after the viewers next, they will destroy themselves with greed