HBO has sent out ‘take down’ requests to Twitter-owned live streaming video app Periscope, after the app was used to broadcast episodes of Game of Thrones. The first four episodes of the new season of the show leaked last weekend. The broadcaster says the shows were sourced from preview DVDs.
Twitter has argued that Periscope adheres fully to US copyright law. HBO criticized the service indirectly, saying: “In general, we feel developers should have tools which proactively prevent mass copyright infringement from occurring on their apps and not be solely reliant upon notifications”.
Periscope’s terms and conditions tell users they must respect IP rights. However, the app only reacts to infringement allegations after they have been made, rather than preventing them from happening in the first place, claims HBO.
HBO has been involved in copyright infringement cases on a number of occasions. Piracy specialist Irdeto says that old Game of Thrones episodes were downloaded more than seven million times between early February and April 6 in the run-up to the new season. It is thought that the first episode of season five has already been downloaded around five million times.
