Canadian Punjabi Network

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May 31 2021

Hon. François-Philippe Champagne
Minister
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5

Consultation on a modern copyright framework for online intermediaries

Dear Hon. Minister,

  1. Canadian Punjabi Network would like to take this opportunity to address the “Consultation on a Modern Copyright Framework for Online Intermediaries”.
  2. Canadian Punjabi Network has been in the video distribution business since 1981 and has been fighting against piracy since the 1990s. Canadian Punjabi Network now operates an OTT platform called KaroStream, which is known as Canada’s first legal South Asian OTT platform.
  3. The KaroStream OTT service is available on all major platforms including, Samsung Smart TV’s, LG Smart TV’s, Roku devices and Smart TV’s, Amazon Fire TV devices and Smart TV’s, and Sony Smart TV’s via the Android platform.
  4. Through the KaroStream platform, Canadian Punjabi Network has become a credible brand for the South Asian communities living in North America for legally licensed, Bollywood television and video services. We have worked alongside many content producers from India and North America to distribute their content in a legal manner. CPN’s initiative is to grow our platform by marketing and protecting the channels streaming on our platform in Canada.
  5.  From the establishment of Canadian Punjabi Network, we have financially invested in content licensing and creating content which includes originally produced movies and live programs.
  6. The expansion of piracy in Canada has greatly affected Canadian Punjabi Network by causing a rapid decline in subscribers.  The decline has been caused because individuals are attracted to low cost (illicit) subscriptions offered by Pirate IPTV providers who illegally stream (without authorization) content belonging to Canadian Punjabi Network and our content licensors. Canadian Punjabi Network has taken the initiative to terminate piracy in Canada.
  7. Canadian Punjabi Network is known for its industry leading anti-piracy measures.  CPN has conducted investigation’s regarding piracy, and has accumulated a vast amount of knowledge regarding how piracy is conducted, and how devices and subscriptions are sold and distributed. There is currently a massive national surge in pirated activity.  CPN is able to confirm that the programming content that we have legally acquired and paid for is being pirated in Canada by a number of Pirates.
  8. CPN has sufficient evidence of a mass piracy ring taking place in Canada. Analysis derived from investigations conducted by our analysts concluded that Pirates are selling services from retail locations such as, computer and cell phone repair shops, convenience stores, and online reseller websites such as, Amazon, Kijiji, and Facebook marketplace. Examples of marketing materials used by Pirates, can be seen in Appendix A.
  9. Canadian Punjabi Network has proof of the massive spread of pirated devices sold exclusively for the purposes of obtaining access to unauthorized content through the Internet. Unsuspecting consumers will acquire these set-top boxes which have been loaded with URLs that offer the consumer all manners of content for which rights have not been obtained. Many parties who sell these pirated devices in Canada, do not disclose to customers that the devices, or the subscriptions are being used for the purpose of pirating program content. Many consumers are misled into believing that the subscriptions they are purchasing are legitimate and legal.
  10. We have determined, by way of our research, that the pirate IPTV service providers do not necessarily utilize a searchable and readily evident website. In fact, the trend is to pre-load second-generation dark web (set-top) devices, which are nowhere near as easy to track or stop as first-generation players like torrent websites such as The Pirate Bay. The majority of IPTV resellers do not publicize their existence via the Internet or websites that appear on Google searches.  Many Pirate devices are pre-programmed, to access (dark web) IP addresses. Thus, we recommend that preventing the spread of piracy means requiring ISPs to block infringing URLs and domain addresses that are utilized by Pirate content providers.
  11. The current means of disrupting the piracy organizations which are operating in Canada  (or from overseas) does not allow for such measures. Currently, there are significant shortcomings in the Copyright Act.  In essence, individual broadcasters and BDU’s must  invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to conduct the necessary research, take the pirate distributor and manufacturers to court - if those individuals can be identified, and/or served in Canada.  The reality is that broadcasters and intellectual property rights holders, still face the possibility of no subsequent remedial action being taken. Under the current legislation, the broadcasters are expected to endure the effects of piracy with no cost effective or sure way to stop it.
  12. Many broadcasters have taken such steps to fight piracy and proceed to the courts of Canada, however, they are met with a dismissal for an injunction. An example is Allarco Entertainment 2008 Inc., who attempted to stop the distribution of android devices which facilitate in piracy. The current Copyright act clearly does not provide any remedies to the growing piracy landscape or provide the necessary tools to broadcasters and BDU’s to protect their content from infringement.
  13. The black-market IPTV resellers share a portion of revenues with those who obtain and store copyrighted material illegally. The resellers do provide any benefit to the Canadian economy and produce virtually no Canadian content.  They are simply money-making operations that openly disregard legal, financial and regulatory provisions.
  14. From our research we have discovered the Pirate IPTV resellers conduct a cash business in which tax (ie. HST, GST or Provincial) is not collected. This is both a copyright infringement and criminal (tax evasion) matter. From our latest research we have established that the Pirates accept interac E-transfers in which tax is not paid by the customer nor collected by the Pirates.
  15. Moreover, a significant percentage of funds collected by resellers, are either retained by Pirates who are located in Canada, or diverted out of the country.  In both instances, taxes are not paid.
  16. With millions of dollars in tax fraud taking place in Canada, complaints to the Canadian Revenue Agency do not result in legal action taken against Pirates. To our knowledge, most IPTV Pirate resellers do not operate a legitimate business and therefore do not legally register a business name, or incorporate in Canada.  However, they continue to collect funds and profit from pirated services.  This is essentially an underground industry designed to circumvent the law.
  17. IPTV resellers utilize advertising in order to promote their illicit services to a larger audience. Pirates frequently advertise their preloaded pirated devices and subscriptions on radio stations licensed by the CRTC. After discovering a pirated IPTV service provider who was advertising on a radio channel licensed by the CRTC; Canadian Punjabi Network contacted the radio station and was met with inaction. CPN, contacted the CRTC who determined that it would not investigate our complaint.  Moreover the CRTC indicated that our complaint would be "added to the radio station's file" and might be considered in 2024, at the time the radio station's license is up for renewal. This is shameful in these cases, cease and desist letters are meaningless because the judicial system is not taken seriously by Pirates or the companies (i.e. radio stations) which provide advertising services.
  18. The Copyright Act as presently written, does not provide realistic remedies that can be utilized by content producers and distributors to protect their intellectual property rights from being infringed upon by content Pirates. The Copyright Act, provided some limited remedies which were effective in combatting infringement when physical copying of DVDs was occurring. In the case of DVD infringement, we found that a cease and desist letter prevented the shop owner from making copies and illegally distributing the content. In the case of DVD copy infringement, a continuous act of infringement could easily be documented by visiting the infringers' stores, and purchasing illegally produced copies of the product. Currently, in regards to pirated distribution, the individuals that are streaming telecasts, or copying and reproducing the programming - which is provided by Pirate IPTV subscriptions, are nowhere to be found. Moreover, if the reseller was targeted, they would likely stop selling the illicit subscriptions for a limited period of time but they would continue selling and collecting subscription revenues from their existing paying subscribers. The Copyright Act must be reshaped to fit the actual circumstances of piracy which is occurring within the current Internet landscape.
  19. The solution to this issue is to require Internet Service Providers to block the infringing URLs. This allows the termination of piracy at the source instead of attempting to terminate each location where the pirated devices and subscriptions are being sold. Without the web site blocking in place, it is nearly impossible for an entity like, Canadian Punjabi Network to attempt and stop thousands of corner store locations from selling preloaded devices or the anonymous offshore Pirates who are creating and operating such services.
  20. As can be seen in exhibit A, pirated devices and subscriptions are not only being distributed by a small number of corner store locations, but it has spread to distribution over large social media and e-commerce platforms which are available in Canada such as Amazon, Kijiji, and Facebook marketplace. The copious number of resellers vastly outnumber the resources legal distributors such as ourselves have to protect our intellectual property rights. 
  21. Thousands of Live TV channels, up to fifty thousand movies, and hundreds of television shows are streamed without licenses by these Pirate IPTV services. The distribution and sale of pirated subscriptions and devices is not only harming broadcasters and BDU’s but also the entire Canadian film and television production industry. The result of this content being blatantly stolen without any repercussion causes major damage to the Canadian economy.
  22. The proliferation of piracy across Canada has greatly harmed Canadian Punjabi Network. Piracy impacts CPN two ways: One being, a decline in paying subscribers, most of whom have shifted to a cheaper (illicit) alternative which includes pirated services; and secondly, the stunt of our growth since the expansion of piracy. We project loss of revenue exceeds $18 million a year - based on at least 100,000 subscribers to illicit streaming services.  This loss in existing and potential subscribers not only affects Canadian Punjabi Network, but also the Canadian film and television production industry that would have benefited from the growth of CPN.
  23. The reality is taking these Pirate IPTV resellers, distributors, and manufacturers to court, under the current Copyright Act, is not an option. Pirated devices and subscriptions are being sold virtually in every corner store in the major cities of Canada. Site blocking is the only way piracy can be controlled. Requiring ISPs to block infringing URLs would provide legitimate broadcasters like ourselves to, effective remedies against the Pirates who are causing irreparable damage. A solution would be to create a commission that allows broadcasters to register their domains in which content is legally distributed. The domains would go through a stringent procedure to get approved to assure the legitimacy of all intellectual property rights. This is a similar procedure that Apple, Samsung, LG, and many other platforms undergo to launch the application or service on their platform.
  24. The challenge is, piracy can be stopped through courts and the regulatory process, however, it requires adequate tools and effective enforcement to terminate it.  The current situation is reminiscent of the struggle in the 1990 and early 2000's to find and eliminate the grey market Direct-to-Home satellite Pirates that were proliferating across Canada.  The Copyright Act, was modernized to provide effective enforcement tools, to combat satellite piracy. In this decade of the 21st century, the technical means of program piracy, have changed. This requires copyright reform that provides effective enforcement tools that can meet the challenges of "morphing" technologies. Meeting this challenge will require international cooperation because enterprising illegal operators will attempt to co-locate or relocate to foreign jurisdictions. We also submit that the Government should recalibrate financial and legal penalties that will discourage individuals from purchasing these illegal services. Stiff penalties and enforcement will stifle potential black market operators.

We appreciate the opportunity to provide comments in this proceeding and would be pleased to provide any clarification or additional information that you may require.

Yours truly,
Sami Dhillon
President, Canadian Punjabi Network Inc.
www.karostream.com

Exhibit A

Figure 1: TV box and plain $7 in stock in Toronto.
Figure 2: Sub TV for android $7 in Toronto.
Figure 3: Full HD 4K TV Box for TV $8 in Toronto.
Figure 4: Firestick home entertainment $20 in Toronto.
Figure 5: @@Sub TV and for Android TV $1 in Toronto.
Figure 6: IPTV Express Server sold on Amazon for $12 CAD per month price $3.99. 
Figure 7: IPTV box on Amazon.
Figure 8: Punjabi Channels on Amazon $110.
Figure 9: IPTV 1 year Subscription for Arabic, Canada, USA, Hindi, Europe, Brazil $48 on amazon.ca.
Figure 10: IPTV 4K UHD Box 647-607-1863 in Mississauga on Kijiji.ca.
Figure 11: I-P-T-V box and service $12 Halder Crescent, Markham advertised on Kijiji.ca.
Figure 12: Google.com search results for internet protocol television ad for IPTV Ontario 289-401-7728.