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Legal Watchdog Group Uncovers 300 Apparently Pirated Films Viewed More Than 22 Million Times on Google Video

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 September 2007, 18:00 CDT

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) sent a report to members of Congress detailing their research effort to examine the extent of apparent copyright violations on Google Video.

Earlier this summer, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) researched the extent of copyrighted material being hosted on Google Video and released a "Top 50" list of apparently copyrighted movies. In the latest "spot check" of the site conducted from September 10 to September 18, NLPC discovered 300 additional instances of apparently copyrighted films, including over 60 movies released this year. Several popular summer releases including Shrek the Third, Oceans Thirteen, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Knocked Up were easily found on the video sharing site. Receiving more than 22 million views in the past year, the 300 apparently pirated films as well as many other copyrighted works continue to make their way to Google Video despite Google's cited claim that it respects the rights of copyright holders and is continuing to take the lead in providing state-of-the-art tools for all copyright holders to identify and remove their intellectual property from the site.

"While Google faces numerous legal challenges related to the posting of copyrighted content on its video sharing websites, there is also a growing chorus who believe that evidence of Google's seemingly indifferent attitude towards Internet video piracy has resulted in a legitimization or 'mainstreaming' of video piracy which will have broad and damaging implications for all intellectual property owners," the letter, signed by NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm, accompanying the report reads. "We share those concerns."

"Since [we originally identified evidence of copyright infringement], the number of apparently copyrighted movies being hosted by Google Video appears to have grown substantially," the letter adds. "During the past two weeks, NLPC again conducted random spot checks of Google Video in an attempt to identify clearly copyrighted works that continue to be hosted on the site. What we found raises serious questions about Google's oft-stated commitment to prevent apparently copyrighted content from being hosted on its video sharing site."

Boehm's letter also questions Google's repeated announcements that it intends to install video filtering technology on its video sharing services. "Google has been promising video filtering technology to screen for copyrighted content since at least the fall of 2006," said Boehm. "On July 27th of this year, Google again announced that it would launch a filtering system by September of this year to prevent pirated material from being uploaded to its YouTube video sharing site. As of this Monday however, it appeared that Google still had not implemented the promised technology either for its YouTube or Google Video sites."

Estimates credit Internet piracy theft for nearly $2.3 billion in lost revenue to the U.S. film industry. "As you continue to debate intellectual property issues in the months ahead, we urge you to pay close attention to the 'mainstreaming' of video piracy by Internet leaders such as Google, and urge you to continue taking strong and enforceable measures to protect the intellectual property of American businesses," the letter concludes.

The letter and the research is available by clicking on the links below: NLPC Letter to Members of Congress: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Letter HSCJ.pdf Database of 300 Movies Found on Google Video: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/nlpc viddb new2.pdf Movie Screenshots Movies A-B: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Movies A-B.pdf Movies C-F: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Movies C-F.pdf Movies G-I: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Movies G-I.pdf Movies J-O: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Movies J-O.pdf Movies P-S: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Movies P-S.pdf Movies T-W: http://www.nlpc.org/pdfs/Movies T-W.pdf

For additional information, please contact Kari Scott, at (703) 683-5004 ext. 128 or Ken Boehm at (703) 237-1970.

National Legal and Policy Center

CONTACT: Kari Scott, +1-703-683-5004 ext. 128, for NLPC; or Ken Boehm ofNLPC, +1-703-237-1970

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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