Thousands of illegal sports broadcasts posted during events

Online copyright infringements involving Olympic footage have remained a problem and more efforts are required to fight illegal activities, according to China Media Group, one of the broadcasters for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

CMG holds the exclusive media rights of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the Chinese mainland and Macao, granted by the International Olympic Committee. Other organizations or platforms must get authorization from CMG if they intend to broadcast an event.

CMG has authorized the online platforms of Migu Video, Tencent and Kuaishou for broadcasts of the Tokyo Olympics.

To strengthen copyright protection of the Games, the National Copyright Administration added related Olympic programs onto a warning list. Network service providers were asked not to provide related programs without permission and to delete illegal content and links.

CMG also issued a statement in April, emphasizing the hazards of offering unauthorized broadcasts or videos. Meanwhile, it expanded cooperation with monitoring institutions and used advanced technologies such as blockchain and big data to take more effective measures against infringers.

Although authorities had intensified a clampdown, online copyright infringements were still found during the Games, CMG said.

Yan Bo, deputy director of CMG’s copyright operation center, said, “With the rapid development of internet technologies, broadcasters and regulators are faced with unprecedented challenges in regard to copyright protection.”

As of Aug 3, a total of 4,759 illegal live broadcasting links had been detected. The clicks on these links had reached 100,000.

In addition, major social media sites and video platforms were riddled with re-edited clips from authorized programs, CMG said.

According to data from monitoring institutions, nearly 60,000

Yan Bo, deputy director of China Media Group’s copyright operation center

With the rapid development of internet technologies, broadcasters and regulators are faced with unprecedented challenges in regard to copyright protection.”

infringing video links had been spotted on key commercial websites by Aug 8. More than 50 percent of the links were taken down after 24 hours.

Analysts said that short videos, which are all the rage in China, can receive thousands of views in a short space of time and bring huge advertising revenue to operators. Driven by the profits, some sites created a special tag or page for the Games, attracting users to upload pirated videos.

Commercial websites have become the most common platform offering unauthorized short videos, CCTV reported. The sites infringe the rights of copyright owners as well as the interests of broadcasters, said Liu Chuntian, who is chairman of the Intellectual Property Law Association of China Law Society.

Wan Yong, a professor at the law school of Renmin University of China, said users must raise their legal awareness and realize that providing pirated videos online is illegal. “Especially some serious wrongdoing may constitute a crime,” he added.

Protecting the copyright of the Olympics is not only a duty that China needs to undertake but a way to honor the Olympic spirit, said Peng Jianming, a representative from CMG. CMG will work with all parties to step up the crackdown on copyright infringements. Infringers will be held accountable for their actions, Peng said.