Karaoke Forums

Excerpt from site -

"The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center (IPR Center) stands at the forefront of the U.S. government’s response to global intellectual property (IP) theft.

As a task force, the IPR Center uses the expertise of its member agencies to share information, develop initiatives, coordinate enforcement actions, and conduct investigations related to IP theft. Through this strategic interagency partnership, the IPR Center protects the public’s health and safety, the U.S. economy, and the nation's war fighters.

Intellectual property rights theft is not a victimless crime. It threatens U.S. businesses and robs hard-working Americans of their jobs, which negatively impacts the economy. It can also pose serious health and safety risks to consumers, and oftentimes, it fuels global organized crime."

http://www.iprcenter.gov/

-Chris

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-Chris

It's not FBI, it is a task force comprised of many entities including the FBI, RCMP, INTERPOL, and other domestic and international agencies, through the US Department of Homeland Security.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Sorry....I found it via the FBI site....

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate ... collar/ipr

-Chris

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-Chris

Chris they seem to be more interested in movie pirating than karaoke. Even if they decided to go after karaoke pirating they wouldn't go after karaoke hosts, but rather the supplier's of the hard drives, which makes more sense, you would be then cutting off the head of the snake. They are not going to break out black helicopters for the casual home user either. Where the majority of the karaoke theft occurs, along with lost revenues. Have a nice day.

First - You are making assumptions about what this new entity may or may not do without having any information about them what-so-ever.

Second - Obviously movies will be a top priority because that is where the real money is. That should not preclude us from reporting karaoke piracy.

Third - When we break a plate or glass on the floor, we typically pick up the large, obvious, easy to grab pieces first. They we get a broom or small brush to get the smaller, harder to grab/see pieces. Let the authorities start with the Hard Drive Sellers and Pirate Internet site and then come down the chain to the living room (if they decide to go that far).

-Chris

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-Chris

In your hopes to destroy all piracy you and all the other cheerleaders have become blinded. The day this agency comes after the home user or the KJ, will be the day that any elected official who had anything to do with it, will be replaced. People do not want that type of invasion in their lives. Chris piracy will NEVER go away. You better get used to it. Just like someone else said, murder doesn't go away, drug dealers don't go away. This country can't even fight poverty properly, and you think they will eradicate piracy??? You make me laugh, my friend. You make me laugh.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

it is nice to see them giving a crap about something at least.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Smooth so explain why police (FBI/RCMP included) arrest and prosecute low level dealers as well as the big fish? Or car thieves or any other element of organized crime? They arrest the big as well as the small.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

You are talking apples and oranges. Criminal verses civil. What is a big record company going to get from Little Johnny who downloaded a bunch of songs?? Little Johnny has nothing. They are going to go after the big dogs that will get them a payday. In criminal law the idea is to get the criminals off the street, not make money off them. Civil law is ALL about monetary gain.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Um, the task force is going for criminal and the law allows for prosecution either by criminal or civil. It seems to me the government is now getting heavily involved. What will happen, I don't know. I don't have a crystal ball and I don't know how they may proceed. Just like arresting a street level pusher to go higher up, they may go after low level DJs/KJs to go higher up. That is a typical investigative method.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

I would think that the government agencies would be more interested in putting the hard drive SELLERS out of business, rather than the hard drive buyers out of business. The hard drive seller is the true pirate that is costing the manufacturers thousands in sales. A hard drive SELLER could make hundreds of thousands of dollars by stealing customers away from the manufacturers but the manufacturers make little or no effort to put these guys out of business because if the hard drive sellers were shut down; The manufacturers would have no large group of buyers to file law suits against. The government agencies aren't in it to line their own pockets so they would realize that you would get rid of the buyers if you get rid of the SELLERS first. When the manufacturers catch one of the SELLERS; it seems like all they want from them is a list of names of their buyers. The hard drive SELLER is like a goose that lays golden eggs. You don't want to stop the goose from laying those profitable eggs so you just harvest the eggs and let the goose keep feeding so it can lay more eggs.

You think they are going to round up all the KJs then good cop/bad cop them?? REALLY?? I could just picture how well that would go over. No corruption there. . Thanks for the laugh, Timber. I needed that.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Supply and demand seems to kick in, even with crime. If people want something and one seller is taken out, someone else will jump in to feed the demand. So while they may focus on the sellers, I could see them trying to make an example out of a few buyers just to put the scare into people.

Things have gotten to the point where music piracy is so common people don't see it as a big deal or wrong. I remember a facebook friend's postings where on one they were expressing their satisfaction at having gotten their kids into a private Christian School where they could learn good values and then further down they were decrying the end of a file sharing site that had just been shut down. They don't think. If this agency gets the seller's customer lists then people may, indeed, find themselves at least getting a letter. They can't just focus on the seller. They have to raise awareness in the people that are keeping the sellers in business.

First- you are making assumptions also when you think they are going to do anything about karaoke hosts, they have bigger fish to fry.

Second - movies are higher up the food chain and put more people out of work than karaoke hosting does as far a piracy is concerned. I know most of us hosts have an exaggerated opinion of our own worth to society, but really in the entertainment industry we are minor players.

Third-Karaoke is not like cleaning up a dish it is more like trying to clean up a toxic waste dump, most of the damage is below the surface, and will take a long time and a great deal of money to deal with. The manus are running out of time and money, and if they are no longer viable, just who's rights would the super agency be protecting? Have a nice day.

Just because some of you chose to close their eyes to facts, doesn't mean the facts go away. Piracy is piracy and will hurt honest people no matter where or what the subject is.

You can close your eyes as long as you want... I applaud the efforts to fight piracy that are taking place more and more. Will the problem go away over night? No, but they will crack down sooner or later, even in front of your door...

And from some statements I gathered here and on other sites around. No one is hitting the breaks when it comes to prosecute pirates. Next year they will hit the gas pedal even more.

SC has no reason to come to my door I have not used or promoted their product in many years now. What will happen will happen, I have been hosting over 18 years now and haven't see one suit filed here locally. I have maybe 2-3 years left in the business before retirement. As to what will be next year is just around the corner, and we will just have to wait and see. If it's anything like the last few years, I will be happily retired without having to deal with any of these manus. Have a nice day.

Well the closing of those file sharing site hurt many of the smaller, less popular bands. They fought against those closures. For many bands, file sharing was their best outlet to get their music to the people. Except for a select handful, like Metallica, most bands don't rely on album sales to make their money. They rely on touring. The record companies are the ones who make all the money off actual album sales. Many of the smaller bands lost, what could have been MILLIONS in tour sales because they lost their one outlet for their music to get heard. The less popular bands, and the local bands don't get airplay. In many cases they NEEDED file sharing sites to get known.As usual, corporate greed won out.

That being said, why don't the karaoke companies get together and get the file sharing sites closed down? I will tell you why. it is the same reason why the hard drive sellers are still in business. It is to keep companies like SC in the business of suing people. If the hard drive sellers and the file sharing sites went away, the piracy lawsuits would soon dry up. SC couldn't make any money, then. Harrington would lose his best client. So, as long as they can make money suing KJs, they NEED the outlets for piracy to remain open. All I am saying is don't expect to see any changes in the business. The unfortunate part is that the ones who are still using stolen stuff are too stupid to stop. If they would stop using stolen stuff, the hard drive sellers AND SC would be out of business in no time!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Whether or not an artist wants to share their music for free should be up to the artist and the file sharing sites weren't making that distinction between the willing and the unwilling. Would you like it if your venue said that art and singing should belong to the masses so they had decided to share your karaoke show for the night and not pay you?

The singers at karaoke shows DON'T get paid for what they do, even though some probably should. The SINGERS ARE sharing their art. The bar is paying for my to host those singers and for the use of my equipment. There are bars that share the karaoke on Youtube. The host still gets paid. Your analogy doesn't work.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Yes it does--the question is shouldn't the person creating the art or the product or providing the service be the one to decide whether they want to share their art/product/service for free or is it okay that others decide to share it for them without permission?