BitTorrent, Cyberlockers Identified as Notorious Markets in USTR Comments

Given the number of registered member accounts on the VKontakte site, the most popular online social network in Russia, "the scale of damage to rights holders is staggering," RIAA said in its comments. The site's music functionality enables users to upload and share music and video files via profile pages, "which includes hundreds of thousands of unlicensed copyright works," it said. The Zing site provides convenient search functions and user interfaces for users to browse and download infringing content, it said. RIAA also cited the BitTorrent indexing and tracker sites, cyberlockers like 4shared.com, and other sites as notorious online markets.

MPAA identified sites that provide downloaders with unauthorized copies of high-quality, recently released content and, "in some cases, coordinate the actual upload and download of that content," it said in its comments (here). The Canada-hosted motion picture piracy site, Kickass.to, transitioned to new domain names after its domains were seized by the U.S. and the Philippines governments, it said. Other sites such as Extabit.com, Netload.in and Nowvideo.sx were identified "because of the vast amount of infringing premium content available to users, which serves as a huge driver of traffic to these sites," MPAA said.

Blogs and online forums are "becoming increasingly popular locations for posting links to pirated software available on torrents or via direct download," the Business Software Alliance said in comments. Rlslog.net in Sweden, Rutracker.org in the Seychelles and others are commonly used to post such material, BSA said. Sellers and distributors offer counterfeit software products in bulk and high volume on business-to-business websites, it said. Many of the sites, including Taobao.com and Paipai.com, are located in China "where many of these counterfeit products are being manufactured," BSA said.

The International Intellectual Property Alliance identified Qvod and Xunlei.com from China as sites providing infringing copies of copyright materials. Sina.com.cn, Wenku.baidu.com and Docin.com employ "digital coin" systems, where coins earned through uploading documents can be used to "purchase" documents for download, IIPA said. Blogs, newsgroups and "bulletin board" sites such as Warez-bb.org, post links to copyright materials available through BitTorrent protocols, it said. "Software is particularly hard hit by these sites," it said.

The Entertainment Software Association also highlighted Warez-bb.org as a notorious online market, whose operators "continue to take steps to evade enforcement by changing ISPs" or by hiding the true hosting provider behind a proxy, it said. Circumvention device distribution sites are a continuing concern for the videogame industry "because they enable the creation and use of unauthorized copies of game software," it said. Such sites include Chipspain.com and Todoconsolas.com, ESA said.

Tencent Holdings, owner of Paipai.com, urged the USTR not to list the website in its final report. On occasion, Paipai users seek to sell infringing goods, said Brent Irvin, Tencent's general counsel. But Tencent and Paipai have taken effective steps "to deter and punish such conduct by users of the site, while also continuing to refine and improve their anti-piracy procedures in collaboration with rights holders," he said. -- Kamala Lane