“Cloudflare is an important intermediary that can do more. Its services are the basis for the operation of many websites that infringe intellectual property rights.” – Corsearch Report
A significant number of websites involved in piracy and counterfeiting use Cloudflare’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) service, according to new research published by Corsearch.
Cloudflare was found to serve six times more trademark and copyright infringing websites than the following service providers: 49% of websites Corsearch flagged for content piracy used Cloudflare, and 23.5% of websites flagged for offering counterfeit goods used Cloudflare.
In addition, Corsearch will notify Google if it determines that a website should be downgraded by the search engine for trademark or copyright infringement. Corsearch analyzed this data and found that 71% of these websites use Cloudflare’s services.
“The online proliferation of illegal products, services, and content can undermine consumer confidence and cause serious harm to consumers. could have serious consequences,” Corsearch said in a statement.
Corsearch, a company that specializes in intellectual property protection, has compiled data from working with brands and content creators to keep cases of counterfeiting and piracy off the internet. The company analyzed about 14,000 of his website enforcements over the last year.
Corsearch’s goal behind the report is to push Cloudflare to do more to protect intellectual property and remove instances of copyright and trademark infringement.
“Cloudflare is an important intermediary that can do more. Its services are the basis for the operation of many websites that infringe intellectual property. There is no doubt that the online experience for consumers would be greatly improved if we could do more to support ,” said Simon Baggs, President of Brand and Content Protection at Corsearch.
What is Cloudflare?
Cloudflare is a popular choice because it offers free DDoS protection and SSL authentication services. Competitors usually offer these in premium paid packages. According to Corsearch’s report, “Cloudflare does not require its customers to provide verified identities or business or personal registration details and essentially It gives them an anonymous cover to do so.”
Cloudflare positions itself as a DDoS mitigation service and content delivery network rather than a traditional hosting provider. According to Cloudflare’s blog post on his website, it is estimated that about 20% of his websites on the internet use the service. The company has grown rapidly since listing on the New York Stock Exchange, with some investment analysts calling it a super-growth stock.
According to Cloudflare, it does not host web content and cannot remove content from its website, but it often receives complaints from IP owners because its name appears in the same place as web hosting services. I have.
On the Cloudfare website, the company states: We are not legally obligated to provide such assistance, but we believe it is the right thing to do and the best way to help. “
Additionally, once a formal complaint is filed through the website, Cloudflare will notify the customer of the report and forward the report to the website’s hosting provider.
Cloudflare has also been attacked by prominent organizations in the entertainment industry. The Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), and the American Publishers Association all filed complaints to the Office of the US Trade Representative in 2019 that Cloudflare helped pirate websites hide their hosting locations. .
Additionally, in 2022, the MPA will file applications with the U.S. Trade Representative on behalf of major production companies such as Netflix, Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures. “Cloudflare’s customers include some of the world’s most notorious long-standing pirated websites,” the MPA said in its filing.
Course search request
As part of the report, Corsearch made eight requests to Cloudflare. Corsearch wrote: These measures are reasonable and balanced and would have a significant impact if adopted by Cloudflare. ”
These demands include deriving services from websites recognized by the counterfeit and piracy watchlists, publishing transparency documents, including websites reported to Cloudflare by IP owners, and and verifying basic information about their identity.
Some of the recommendations show Cloudflare following Google’s procedures. Google will remove his website from its service if notified of trademark infringement and provided with proper documentation.
Corsearch now has a protocol to notify Google when it detects an IP infringement on your website. The company hopes to do the same with his Cloudflare.
Another similarity with Google is the transparency report. This will be made available to Google through the Lumen database.
Cooperation with Law Enforcement Agencies
Corsearch also analyzed data collected by the Police Intellectual Property and Crime Unit (PIPCU) of the City of London Police. PIPCU was established in 2013 as a national lead force to investigate intellectual property crime in the UK.
As part of PIPCU’s work, law enforcement agencies have created a list of infringing websites to stop funding illegal streaming services. Law enforcement agencies share this list of infringing websites with advertisers to stem the flow of advertising dollars to illegally operated websites.
From this list, Corsearch found that 67% of websites on the Cloudflare list actively use Cloudflare’s services.
“We ask the service providers we work with to help remove domains that are harmful to the creative industry and its consumers. We still have work to do to put policies in place to discourage people from taking action,” said PIPCU Detective Constable Abdun Noor.
Corsearch cited other lists and data Cloudflare can use to combat IP infringement. These include the Notorious Market List published by the US government and the Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List published annually by the European Commission.
According to research from the US Chamber of Commerce, online piracy costs the US economy at least $29.2 billion in revenue each year.
