In the evening of August 18, the opening match of the Serie A 2018-19 season between Chievo and Juventus expected by many people with the participation of the superstar Cristiano Ronaldo after the shocking transfer deal started. However, it is noted that illegal copyright infringement still seriously affects the tournament as well as damages the copyright holder in Vietnam.
Some websites blatantly live stream the match between Chievo and Juventus on August 18
In addition to many unauthorized broadcast relay websites, there are many Facebook accounts that live stream the match between Chievo and Juventus on the evening of August 18. It is not too difficult to find an illegal livestream link on Facebook or Google. These sites always attract a huge number of viewers with lots of public comments and shares. These infringements not only cause losses for copyright holders but also seriously threaten to be refused by the foreign partner to continue broadcasting in Vietnam. If this happens, it will be a big loss for Vietnamese audience and fans.
Not long ago, another Vietnamese radio station was also stopped being provided broadcast signals by international partners, and it could not promote and distribute UEFA Champions League football and UEFA Europa League anymore because of copyright infringement issues. Most recently, a popular Chinese drama has also been requested by foreign partners to stop screening and to remove all content released in Vietnam due to serious copyright infringement.
It is not difficult to find a link to streaming sites of the match between Chievo and Juventus
Ms. To Nam Phuong – representative of FPT, the media copyright holder of Serie A in 3 seasons of 2018-21 in Vietnam, said: “Our unit has all rights to broadcast and communicate Serie A in Vietnamese territory including on both television and Internet platforms. But only with the first match of the tournament we discovered countless infringements on both Facebook and unauthorized livestream websites even keeping our logo and exclusive commentary. This is a serious influence on the tournament that we are responsible for distributing copyright in Vietnam. This is not the first time this infringement has occurred so our copyright protection department has taken immediate action and sent requests to resolve the infringement. With the role of copyright holder, in addition to serving the audience well, we must always be responsible for protecting and handling infringements in accordance with the contract signed with our partners. We also hope that audience can support and boycott acts that harm the copyright of the tournament”.
Currently FPT owns the entire media copyright for the Serie A in 3 seasons from 2018 to 2021, accordingly all 380 matches per season will be broadcasted on FPT Television and FPT Play.
Previously, the official fan page of FPT Television decided to stop livestreaming on Facebook of the match between Chievo and Juventus which took place at 11 pm on August 18, because the copyright protection department of this unit discovered a lot of infringements that may damage the tournament. In charge of protecting the media rights of the Serie A in Vietnam, this television unit has resolutely handled the infringements.
The problem of copyright infringement in Vietnam is not new, but if the copyright infringement of television content as well as of major sports tournaments in Vietnam still happens without strict control solutions, it is likely that in the future, Vietnamese audience will have to miss many important tournaments.
