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5 U. P.R. Bus. L.J. 60 (2014)
Streaming Movies Online: The E True Hollywood Story

handle is hein.journals/uprblj5 and id is 62 raw text is: STREAMING MOVIES ONLINE: THE E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORY JAN ANDRE BLACKBURN-CABRERA* Most people would probably agree that Google is not a bad company. Google has probably millions and millions of links to illegal files. - Daniel Raimer ABSTRACT Online streaming of digital content is on the rise and the legal system's failure to eliminate copyright infringing streaming feeds from the Internet has forced Hollywood to change content distribution practices to an online-based streaming model. Studios and producers have, arguably, faced a significant loss in revenue to illegal streaming. The entertainment industry is now facing the same debacle that the music industry faced in 1999 with Napster, namely how to generate revenue from distributing content online. Advancements in technology allow for live video streaming to a worldwide audience using a conventional personal computer. The future holds ubiquitous computing, where everything will be digitally streamed through video. Everyone's desire to gain access to streams, in its inception of copyright content as well as in the future of all other types of content, is imminent. Copyright infringement of digital artistic works is a constant technological battle for copyright owners, one that has created a market disagreement between owners and end-users. Just as it happened with music, users want to download and watch content for free, while copyright owners want to get paid. Section 2 consists of an analysis of the copyright issues the entertainment industry is facing due to what can be called 'illegal streaming' online feeds and the implications to both end users and website operators. After having understood the various video- streaming products available online, the laws applicable to these technological advancements are provided in order to expose the flaws of the copyright legislations that should be protecting video-recorded entertainment content in digital format. Section 3 offers a look at the current proposed amendments to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (from now on DMCA) and the concern that illegal streaming of content may not be covered by criminal law. A new federal criminal statute that makes infringement by streaming a felony is unnecessary, difficult to prosecute, and will not eliminate illegal streaming feeds of entertainment content online. The entertainment industry's attempts to enforce the DMCA and attack illegal streams depicted in section 4, prove that lawsuits have actually increased the number of streaming feeds and websites, thus creating the opposite effect expected by Hollywood studios. The U.S. government seizures of alleged infringing websites demonstrate that copyright laws need to provide agencies and judges with much more guidance so that enforcement efforts can be both appropriate and constitutional. Alternate ways are suggested for the industry's fight against copyright infringement pertaining to streaming websites that do not involve flawed legislation, unlawful criminal prosecutions or costly legal fees.

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