Even if the UFC was able to take down pirate streams in five minutes, that wouldn’t be quick enough to suit their business model. However, in a typical situation it takes between 8 and 10 minutes to take a stream down, which is unacceptable to them. UFC’s COO refused to name the players in the latter group but was very happy to talk about the former.Īccording to Epstein, the UFC has access to takedown tools which in the case of Facebook means they are able to tackle streaming piracy fairly quickly. He responded that the system differs depending on the target, i.e the ‘networks’ (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter) and the ‘advanced’ platforms, UFC terminology for dedicated pirate sites. They are in my view hiding behind the safe harbor and the DMCA and it’s happening to the detriment of content creators like us.”ĭiscussion moderator, SELI Director Michael McCann, asked Epstein how long a typical takedown takes to process. The other reality is that the vast majority of piracy for our content and most content holders is the network providers, the OSPs – the Facebooks, the YouTube’s, the Twitters. “We certainly feel that this tool doesn’t work anymore based upon the way people are stealing content and the way technology has evolved. We just had a huge event with Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier and that event took five minutes, so if a takedown takes ten minutes, guess what? People were able to view that without any disruption at all,” he explained. So if a UFC live PPV stream is taken down 15 or 20 minutes after it was launched, the entire fight could’ve taken place. “When you use one of these tools or you provide notice, typically it takes a period of time, it’s not instantaneous. Under the current regime, takedowns simply do not happen quickly enough to make a difference when it matters. You as the copyright owner have to go onto YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and say, ‘hey – without authorization you’re displaying our copyrighted material.’ And through a variety of technology – whether it’s a takedown tool or notifications – you ask them to take it down.”Įpstein believes that this type of content removal is less than ideal because the value of UFC’s content is at its peak when it’s broadcast live and since most of the piracy takes place during that window, piracy has the greatest financial impact on the company. “The reality is that to the content owner and creator, the DMCA is really a reactive tool. DMCA is Ill-Suited to Dealing With Live Sports Events In particular, UFC’s COO feels that the takedown provisions of the DMCA are outdated and especially so when it comes to protecting live events. The problem according to Epstein is that the UFC is constrained by outdated laws, specifically the DMCA which hasn’t been updated for almost a quarter of a century. The problem is pervasive, it is consistent, it has never gone away, it likely will never go away.” “It is a situation where unfortunately technology for pirates continues to get better and better and better, and this cat and mouse game we’re constantly playing gets more and more complicated every day. But as a creator of content, in particular of sports content here at the UFC, it’s a huge damage to us and it’s a huge damage to our athletes who are our partners with us in these events,” he said. “A lot of people feel that piracy is a victimless crime, that there really isn’t that much damage that’s being caused. He noted that the UFC has been negatively affected by piracy since its inception and until recently, the vast majority of its revenues came from PPV events, which are heavily pirated. Since the UFC is very active in trying to shape legal policy in the streaming space, Epstein’s comments are of particular interest.Įpstein described the current piracy situation as intellectually “super interesting” but in practical terms, “incredibly frustrating”. It featured Lawrence Epstein (Chief Operating Officer of the UFC), Debbie Spander (Founder and CEO of Insight Sports) and Ryan Vacca (Professor of Law at UNH Law). The Entertainment Law Institute and the Sports and Entertainment Law Society (SELI) at the University of New Hampshire recently hosted a panel discussion titled “Online Piracy of UFC Fights and Live Sports: The Role of Copyright Law.”