1 November 7, 2020 Mr. Jake Ewert Director for Innovation & Intellectual
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November 7, 2020 Mr. Jake Ewert Director for Innovation & Intellectual Property Office of the United States Trade Representative 600 17th St., NW Washington, DC 20508 Submission by beIN Media Group LLC and Miramax, LLC 2020 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets (Docket Number USTR-2020-0035) Dear Mr. Ewert, beIN Media Group LLC (“beIN”) and Miramax, LLC (“Miramax”) appreciate the opportunity to provide comments in response to the request by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) to identify examples of online and physical notorious markets that engage in and facilitate substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting, for the purposes of USTR’s 2020 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets. beIN is a global sports and entertainment media company incorporated under the laws of the State of Qatar. beIN engages in television production, distribution and media rights acquisition, and broadcasts in 43 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (“MENA”), and Asia. beIN is also expanding significantly into entertainment through television production and distribution, and currently owns a majority share of Miramax Films to grow its movie production capabilities. beIN holds exclusive rights to broadcast, and to authorize others to broadcast, premium sporting competitions in the MENA region, including but not limited to the National Basketball Association (“NBA”), Major League Baseball (“MLB”), the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the soccer World Cup by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (“FIFA”), the Champions League by the Union of European Football Associations (“UEFA”), and national soccer leagues. The core of beIN’s business is dependent on intellectual property (“IP”) rights that result both from having acquired exclusive media rights from third parties, such as major sporting leagues, and from beIN’s own efforts as the creator of media content. beIN’s negotiations to acquire broadcast rights from major U.S. and international sporting leagues have been underpinned by a necessary confidence in international IP protection. Accordingly, the protection and enforcement of those IP rights is fundamental to the health and success not only of beIN and the rights holder sporting 1 leagues themselves, but also of the many people in the United States whose livelihoods are dependent on the revenue that this industry generates. Miramax is a global film and television studio headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. Miramax is known for films such as Good Will Hunting, 13 Going on 30, Kill Bill, Halloween (and its sequels), and many others. Miramax is also the sales agent for the production company Revolution Films (“Revolution”) and has worldwide television and digital distribution rights for Revolution’s films. Revolution acquired some of its titles from the library of the Morgan Creek Entertainment Group (“Morgan Creek”) several years ago and Miramax now represents these titles, having television and digital distribution rights worldwide, excluding North America. Miramax was acquired by beIN in March 2016, and, as of December 2019, is 49 percent owned by ViacomCBS. Piracy presents a serious threat to the broadcasting, film, and television industry. In the MENA region in particular, where beIN broadcasts directly to customers via its own encrypted satellite channels (in Arabic, English, and French), piracy is likely the principal means by which consumers access premium television content, including live sports broadcasts. Piracy is also likely the primary means by which consumers in the MENA region access premium movie and television content on demand, including content owned by Miramax. Indeed, there are many well- established pirate operators, and well-known piracy “brands” that are openly sold in physical and online markets in countries across the MENA region. beIN and Miramax are fully committed to the fight against piracy through all available technological and legal means. beIN and Miramax welcome USTR's publication of key online and physical marketplaces that are involved in infringements of IP rights, and commend its aim to encourage the licensed distribution of legitimate content. The sections that follow identify, for USTR’s consideration in its 2020 review of notorious markets, a number of online marketplaces through which pirated content is made available. I. Operators of IPTV Services As USTR is aware, there has been a significant surge in Internet Protocol Television (“IPTV”)- based piracy, which poses a major threat to the entire broadcasting and film industry. IPTV pirate services are usually offered on a subscription basis, and provide access to thousands of pirated television channels restreamed from around the world, and vast libraries of on-demand movies and television series. Access is typically provided by means of an application (“app”), which can be (i) installed on consumer hardware (often referred to as an “illicit streaming device” or “ISD”), such as an android device that can be plugged into a television, or (ii) downloaded directly to a user’s own device, such as a smart TV, smartphone, tablet, game console, or similar device. IPTV services are typically either monetized via advertising, or offered on a subscription basis at prices (e.g., USD 35 per year) that are far lower than any legitimate operator acquiring rights to, and producing such content, could ever offer (assuming it were even possible to obtain a worldwide licence to thousands of major television channels, movies, and television series). IPTV piracy is particularly pernicious because pirated services compete directly with legitimate services. As pirated content can easily be watched through a television, it is likely to engage an 2 entire household and may be considered a true alternative to a legitimate service. Many consumers may even be unaware that the service they use is illegitimate. Unlike other major forms of internet streaming piracy, such as online content sharing platforms and streaming websites, which are generally relatively easy to discover and monitor on the open internet (with the exception of closed and private groups), pirate IPTV is quite difficult to monitor because it is usually subscription based.1 This means that the content within a pirate IPTV service can be viewed only if a subscription is purchased and maintained. It requires a substantial undertaking to discover and monitor these services. Notwithstanding the considerable challenges and difficulties involved in identifying the operators of pirate IPTV services, beIN and Miramax have identified a number of particularly significant services, which are causing substantial harm to beIN and its U.S. rights holders as well as to Miramax. Based on those investigations, we request that the following pirate IPTV services be added to the Notorious Markets List: (i) Renbow TV, (ii) ATN, and (iii) EVDTV. A. Renbow TV Renbow TV (“Renbow”) is a pirate IPTV application that works on any android device. Subscriptions to Renbow are typically sold for around USD 25 per year, and provide access to over 4,000 channels pirated from broadcasters around the world. Available channels include sports and other programming from beIN’s MENA channels, beIN France, and beIN’s U.S. channels, often including multiple streams of the same beIN channels. Renbow is commonly pre-installed on X96 mini devices sold in the Gulf region, as well as sold online. beIN investigations have revealed that Renbow is offered on pirate IPTV devices sold into the MENA market, including Bahrain, Kuwait, and Oman, as well as Saudi Arabia, via the Haraj online marketplace (discussed in Section V.A below). beIN has linked the operators of Renbow with a number of other pirate IPTV services, which indicates that the subscriber base and reach of this pirate operation is very likely considerable. Following action by beIN, the Renbow app was removed from the official Google Play Store. However, it is still available for download from many other websites. While it is difficult (and sometimes impossible) to identify the underlying operators of a pirate IPTV service, beIN has conducted an extensive investigation into Renbow and concluded that it is likely operated from Bahrain and the Gaza Strip, and that it is also linked to numerous other pirate IPTV services available in the MENA region. It can be anticipated that each of the services is sharing content and streams with each other. Such additional services include: True IPTV app M Box IPTV app Altaneen Pro app Skky IPTV app Dragon IPTV app Valra app Twin TV app 1 Advertising-supported “open” pirate IPTV apps also exist. 3 Ghost TV app Cobra Plus app MyHD app Teivie app Tigershare Safarisat beIN and Miramax request that USTR add Renbow TV to the Notorious Markets List. B. ATN The Advanced TV Network (“ATN”) supplies pirate IPTV streams throughout the world, via its ATN-branded IPTV service, which provides unauthorized access to vast swaths of content, including beIN and Miramax content. ATN focuses primarily on Arabic channels as well as Sky, Disney, and Fox. The pirate service is believed to be vertically integrated, in that it copies channels, sources hardware, and controls its distribution network. ATN had been based in Sweden, but it is now believed to be operated from the United Arab Emirates. 2 beIN is presently a named victim in criminal proceedings in Sweden against the operator of the ATN pirate network. A criminal trial was held in June 2018. The evidence at that trial showed that ATN had 1 million subscribers, 25 employees, and revenues of around USD 5.65 million per year. The evidence further demonstrated that, as of the time of the litigation, ATN operated centres where it copied and redistributed television content in both Sweden and Jordan. The operators were convicted at trial, sentenced to 2.5 years in jail, and ordered to pay beIN compensation in the amount of approximately USD 24 million. 3 ATN has appealed the trial court’s decision, with the appeal due to be heard in 2021.