USTR Special 301 Report lists stream-ripping as 'a dominant method' of piracy

By Emmanuel Legrand

Stream-ripping sites have been singled out as a threat to US intellectual property rights' interests in the 2019  Special 301 Report, published each year by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR).

  The report is the result of an annual review of the state of IP protection and enforcement in US trading partners around the world. The report covers a wide range of IP-related sectors, from pharmaceuticals to broadcasting and creative industries.

  The report states that stream-ripping is now "a dominant method of music piracy, causing substantial economic harm to music creators and undermining legitimate online services." The report lists Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and Switzerland as countries where stream-ripping is popular.

  Mitch Glazier​, ​Chairman & CEO​ of the ​Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)​, said the report ​was "​shining a spotlight on two of the biggest threats to the American creative community – stream-ripping and proxy services that allow criminals to hide on the dark web.​" He added that the music community was "especially gratified that a specific focus of the reports is the substantial harm caused by stream-ripping piracy​​."​

  In addition, USTR noted that online and broadcast piracy "remains a challenging copyright enforcement issue" in many countries (Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Greece, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Ukraine).

Significant concern

  Trading partners that currently present "the most significant concerns regarding IP rights" are placed on the Priority Watch List or Watch List. USTR listed 11 countries on the Priority Watch List, including Chile, China, India and Indonesia, and 25 countries on the Watch List (see table below). Canada and Columbia were moved from the Priority to the Watch List while Saudi Arabia was moved to the Priority List. Paraguay was added to the Watch List, and Tajikistan removed from it.

  Stakeholders welcomed the release of the 301 Report. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) noted that the report also highlights "the important role that collective management organisations (CMOs) for copyright can play in ensuring compensation for right holders and seeks to ensure that CMO practices are fair, efficient, transparent and accountable."

  IIPA Counsel Eric J. Schwartz commented, “Ridding marketplaces of blatant infringers allows greater access to legal content, including literary works, music, movies and TV programming, video games, software, and other products and services, all of which are available now for consumers, in more formats than at any time in history."