US trade representative Michael Froman has identified specific physical and online markets around the world that are reportedly "engaging in and facilitating substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting".
Froman's findings were published in the Special 301 Out-of-Cycle Review of Notorious Markets for 2016, which is used United States and foreign governments to prioritise intellectual property rights enforcement efforts.
“This Notorious Markets List illustrates the seriousness of copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting in online marketplaces,” said Froman. “The 2016 List underscores the need for accountable governments everywhere to take on these forms of piracy and counterfeiting at every stage of the global supply chain to prevent final products that put health and safety of end-consumers at risk.”
The report notes that since the release of the 2015 List, "some market owners and operators have undertaken notable efforts to address the widespread availability of pirated or counterfeit goods in their markets," such as Uruguay. Action from rights holders and governments has resulted in the taking down of KickassTorrent, the voluntary shut down of Torrentz.eu, as well as the closing of previously-listed Cueneva.tv, Solarmovie.is and Mp3skull.com. Ukraine’s largest file-hosting website Ex.ua has also ceased operations.
The report names prominent online platforms in which pirated or counterfeit products and services reportedly are available such as cyberlocker site 4share.com, video streaming app BeeVideo, extratorrent and its various incarnations out of Ukraine, mp3va.com, also opperating out of Russia and Ukraine, putlocker.ch in Asia-Pacific, Rutracker.org and Rapidgator.org, both from Russia, among others. The Pirate Bay returns to the list of notorious markets after a brief hiatus.
The 2016 USTR report also includes some markets not previously listed, such as Rarbg.to, a popular torrent website hosted in Bosnia and Herzegovina; and several previously-identified markets, such as Rapidgator.org, a cyberlocker hosted in Russia. The report includes for the first time Youtube-mp3, one of the most popular stream ripping sites with 4.8 billion visits in the past year.
Stream ripping is subject to a special focus in the report, in which it is described as "an emerging trend in digital copyright infringement that is increasingly causing substantial economic harm to music creators and undermining legitimate services" and is "a direct threat to digital growth as it eliminates the need for users to return to licensed services, thereby depriving artists and record companies of this important revenue source."
The attention paid to stream ripping services was welcomed by the Recording Industry Association of America. "We are especially grateful that USTR has cited illicit stream ripping as a priority issue, specifically calling out youtube-mp3.org," commented RIAA Chairman and
CEO Cary Sherman. "Stream ripping is a considerable and growing threat for the entire music community, with one study estimating a 50% increase in the usage of these sites. This new report rightly shines a much-needed spotlight on this specific type of notorious market, which robs songwriters, artists and labels of the royalties they would have earned from licensed streaming services."
The findings of the report were praised by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), which representing five trade associations of the US copyright industries (Association of American Publishers, Entertainment Software Association, Independent Film & Television Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, and Recording Industry Association of America). The IIPA noted that the list "includes many of the notorious online and physical markets identified by IIPA members in their respective filings to the US Government this year."
The full USTR report can be read here: https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2016-Out-of-Cycle-Review-Notorious-Markets.pdf
