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05-05-2010 02:46 PM |
Copyright Infringements in the Porn Industry (NY Times Article)
Quote:
Copyright Infringements in the Porn Industry
By Kal Raustiala and Chris Sprigman
The Internet is a copyright-infringement machine. That truth is nowhere more obvious than on YouTube, the well-known ?user-generated content? site owned by Google, on which millions of short amateur videos are offered for free viewing, along with many more ripped from commercial ? i.e., copyrighted ? songs, motion pictures and television shows. Big media companies tend to hate YouTube for this reason. Indeed, back in 2007, media giant Viacom sued Google and YouTube for copyright infringement.
But are content providers really harmed by short YouTube videos? Some people may catch the latest bits from The Daily Show on YouTube rather than watching Viacom?s Comedy Central. Yet there are probably just as many whose love for The Daily Show began with YouTube clips. Viacom benefits from the increased viewership and cultural buzz that the clips create. Thought of this way, YouTube clips are like ads for Viacom shows?and free ads at that.
Whether harmful or not, YouTube?s success has unsurprisingly led to imitations. Among them are the hugely popular ?porn-tube? websites like youporn.com, xvideos.com and pornhub.com. These aggregate short clips of both amateur and commercial pornography, posted by the site?s users. Like YouTube, a tremendous amount of content is made available for free. But there are important differences between YouTube and porn-tube, beyond the fact that the people featured on the porn-tube sites are naked. The effect of these clips on the porn industry is clear?and profound.
The biggest of the sites, Pornhub, is currently the 53rd most heavily trafficked site on the Internet. By contrast, CNN.com is No. 59, the website of the New York Times is No. 96, and vivid.com (the site of the best-known high-end porn producer in the U.S.) is No. 19,543. (YouTube is no. 3.) Sales of porn DVDs are collapsing, and the revenues of subscription-based porn sites are drying up. Vivid did sue one of the porn-tube sites for copyright infringement, but that suit was dropped in 2008 and the targeted site continues to operate. There is some talk within the porn industry of a coordinated litigation strategy a la the recording industry?s campaign against Internet file-sharers. But there are other insiders who note that copyright suits have done little to stop the implosion of the major record companies, and who despair of any litigation-based solution. And, unlike the record industry, pornography producers have shown no interest thus far in suing their customers for illegally downloading porn. The industry has preferred instead to appeal to customers? better instincts ? in this video, for example, a group of porn stars pleads with customers not to use the porn-tube sites.
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FULL ARTICLE: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.co...-a-guest-post/ |
