I bought a streaming movie site - is it legal to have one? I do not host any movies - they are simplystreaming through. I am now having second thoughts and thinking about taking it down if there is any problem or may be any problem. I live in Canada, if that makes any difference. I believe we are similar to US law in the respect to online content. I keep reading different opinions on DP and wonder if anyone really knows. Thanks for your help in advance.
I believe a site got shut down recently that streams movies. I guess because they were making money off streaming videos or something. I would sell the site quick!
Yes, it all falls under piracy. *ESPECIALLY* if you are making money off the movies being streamed. I had a similiar client who owned a site which streams TV shows, and for sure it is not legal, the movies/shows have to be hosted somewhere or another How quick will they shut you down? That probably depends on the userbase/size of the site, They could target you, and when/if they do they will issue a cease and desist, or possibly try to impose a fine or prosecute, it all depends.
If you host the content yourself (so it streams from your server, not from veoh, dailymotion, etc), you'll be shut-down much, much faster than if you only link. If you only link you must be enormous for a shutdown. If in Canada, make sure you; - host the site somewhere else ; Asia, Russia and some EU countries (NL is still good) will do fine - make sure the domain in anonymous - if you have the $, register a shell company in Belize or something and make that the owner of the site after the first two steps, but certainly after the 3rd, you are not prosecuted; the worst thing that can happen is that they force your provider to shut-down or your registrar to disable your domain. But if you are not getting 5 figure uniques a day, I wouldn't worry too much yet.
http://tv-links.co.uk/ was the site that got shut down. They had streaming videos for everything! TV Shows, movies, all kinds of series, etc. RIP
Yeah, they were a) huge b) their forum members posted illegal movies to sites like veoh.com not by their name, but by the HASH of their name (and other tricks) as to allude the law. That is considered much more criminal than just linking to them. That is why they went hard and fast on them.
I have one, but no ads. I wouldn't worry much I couldnt see your site getting amazing traffic over night if it does get to that stage get a Russian server.
as long as you don't host any of the files on your site you are fine. I run a popular movies and tv shows site, but I don't embed any video players on my site. I simply link to these externally and I have a very clear legal section in my about section. Check out my signature to see how I have my site set up.
The laws in UK and US in relation to copyright theft are clear - to a point: 1. It is illegal to host material that isn't owned by you without express consent of the copyright owner 2. It is not illegal to own a site that acts as a meta searcher/aggregator across one or more communities because the site is simply a search engine, and when you're talking about yahoo/google vids or youtube the intellectual property has already been placed by someone higher up the food chain. All you're providing is a search facility and content is streamed from somewhere else, so in theory this is fine. 3. tv-links in UK was busted apparently because they had a simple facility which (shock- horror!) allowed registered users to upload content. Consequently even though those users had agreed to a broad and squishy TOS agreement. The statement from the UK Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), Trading Standards and the Police made it clear that they weren't exactly sure what offences they could prosecute for BUT because of the user's ability to upload content this constituted an 'encouragement to breach copyright laws in the UK and internationally'. Funny how they didn't bust You Tube at the same time eh!?!? lol! I ask this question seriously because I own a record company whose product was illegally posted to these larger sites. To give them credit though YouTube did take down the 25 or so offending vids after I'd threatened them with legal action immediately, so on that level be aware that they are just as nervous of lawsuits as anyone else, especially after EMI US served mp3.com with a writ recently for hosting content uploaded by mp3.com's users. The size of these settlements are mind-boggling - tens or hundreds of millions of dollars are changing hands in efforts to settle lawsuits currently. 4. It is not illegal to host, distribute, sell, resell or promote material that you have produced and whose copyright you or your company owns in its entirety, or material/content that you ave an absolute right to exploit by way of a commercial license for exploitation of the same from a valid licensor or copyright owner as part of a bona-fide business arrangement. 5. It is illegal to sell, distribute, promote or supply material which is proscribed under domestic laws in the receiving country, such as necrophilia, zoophilia and pedophilia etc or anything that is now allowed under prevailing obscenity laws in that jurisdiction. (And quite rightly so). (This also applies generally to incitement of racial hatred, cruelty to animals, and as many of these nasty other areas that you can think of - terrorism, treason... all of those, and the rest. 6. Notwithstanding 1,2,3,4 & 5 above, exploitation of something which you do not own or have the right to exploit for remuneration, ie for profit, is (again quite rightly imho) seen as much more serious by courts in UK & US. The relationship between simple theft & the various mechanics involved facilitating distribution online for cash is seen as having a particular purpose and underlying criminal or fraudulent intent. BUT - remember, if the powers that be want to take anyone out, or make their life a misery for whatever reason, they will! And that may just include anyone hosting any site/s that have vid, pic or audio content available for download & redistribution for the express purpose of making a profit therefrom. In other words, like lots of things in life, it's a punt. The problem is that you're in the league of multinational companies with expensive lawyers, so to even think about getting involved and potential or construed liability should be enough to make most sensible people think twice... Hoping this helps - I've been working with IP in music & media for the last 20 years in UK, Europe and US, amongst many other things. Cheers, s ;-o
Thanks to everyone who has posted - I have decided to shut it down as I don't think it is worth the trouble. I would have responded sooner but hadn't realized that so many people had repsonded. A nice surprise about the involved community.
Pssh. I would ONLY worry if you are linking to USA Movies / Tv shows. The only industry to even go after these streaming / blatant piracy sites are AMERICAN Movie companies and record companies. If the streamable content is NOT American / American movies, You shouldn't worry. If you get a DMCA notice, Then just take down the infringing stuff.