Action as part of a series of measures taken to stem retailers in Jordan from promoting and profiting through the theft of intellectual property.
BeIN Media Group has announced a successful action to combat piracy in Amman, Jordan, tackling a major retailer of set-top boxes (STBs) in the country.
The action, which ultimately resulted in a raid led by local law enforcement in Jordan, was carried out against a widely known Jordanian electronics retailer across multiple branches. In each store, the authorities discovered multiple illegal IPTV boxes being marketed for sale. These IPTV boxes hijack high-quality beIN broadcasts and endanger unknowing consumers.
The retailer, amongst others, was found to have been proactively selling to their customers, with several hundred likely to have been sold last month alone ahead of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, with many more in stock. The Department of National Library (DNL) and beIN have been monitoring local retailers’ activities for months, learning that 50% of dealers in Jordan are likely to recommend pirated products and services, over genuine, high-quality and safe IPTV boxes.
The DNL is responsible for actively protecting copyrights in Jordan and is the primary authority for investigating and combating piracy and copyright infringement in Jordan. In the course of their duties, the officers of the DNL are authorised to collect and analyse evidence of piracy and pursue wrongdoers through the Public Prosecutor.
In parallel, the Jordan Media Commission (JMC) has prompted the blocking of 77 websites in less than one month which streamed proprietary beIN content without permission. Furthermore, JMC issued a formal instruction on December 3, 2022, to all media outlets in Jordan warning that they must refrain from presenting any proprietary FIFA World Cup content without a license. JMC is also expected to issue a similar warning shortly against the promotion or advertisement of illicit streaming devices.
These efforts serve to show that the institutions of Jordan take the protection of intellectual property rights very seriously and are actively pursuing their protection duties in line with local laws and international treaties.
DNL and JMC have been working with beIN to tackle the activity of illegal providers of sports and entertainment broadcasts, which are achieved through the outright theft of broadcast streams of beIN.
Following these actions, there will be further investigations by the Public Prosecutors into the evidence collected by the DNL, which will thereafter inform the legal consequences for those involved.
These actions, yet another long line of beIN’s anti-piracy operations, demonstrates beIN’s approach to protecting its and others’ intellectual property in the region. It follows successful legal and policing actions on the part of beIN and its partners in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.
Caroline Guenneteau, Deputy General Counsel at BeIN Media Group, said: “This latest anti-piracy effort in Jordan shows yet again beIN’s zero-tolerance approach to piracy in any form. We are grateful to our partners in the DNL for their assistance in this most recent raid. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with the Jordanian authorities in the pursuit of a piracy-free sport and entertainment ecosystem.”
Broadcast piracy costs the industry $28.3bn annually, affecting broadcasters, consumers and sport. BeIN has taken a firm position to continually tackle the issue at a time when the industry is still recovering from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic
