The International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy, an alliance of international broadcasters committed to combatting unauthorized streaming and distribution of international video content in the United States, and NAGRA, a Kudelski Group (SIX:KUD.S) company, have entered into an expanded anti-piracy agreement.
"While anti-piracy measures against mainstream content seem to be an increasing priority for distributors and content owners, no organization was focused exclusively on protecting international and multicultural content. IBCAP was formed three years ago to fill this gap and has achieved significant success through its monitoring and takedown efforts," said Chris Kuelling, executive director of IBCAP. "The expansion of our agreement with NAGRA will help us leverage the latest technologies and expertise in content protection and anti-piracy with the aim of putting pirates out of business and replacing them with legitimate providers."
Since IBCAP's collaboration with NAGRA in 2014, lawsuits supported by NAGRA, or related to foreign language anti-piracy initiatives, have resulted in federal courts in various states ordering providers and retailers of piracy services to cease their infringing activities and pay millions of dollars for violating IBCAP members' copyrights.
Activities on behalf of IBCAP include the establishment of a monitoring lab to monitor and detect unauthorized use of IBCAP member content and automated systems to monitor set-top boxes, websites, and other streaming platforms. NAGRA will detect servers providing IBCAP member content without authorization, including both linear feeds and VOD content, and take actions to have that content removed. NAGRA will also provide on-the-ground investigation services and enhanced litigation support tools. Within the next weeks, NAGRA's investigation services will be focused on identifying retailers selling pirate services, educating them about the risks of selling those pirate services, and collecting evidence for future investigations and lawsuits.
