Streaming warning – what is that?

We receive daily recurring questions on the subject of warnings, which we would like to write down and answer for you. Some of these questions are:

• How high is the probability to get a streaming warning?
• How high are the costs of a streaming warning?
• What do I do with a streaming warning from the years 2017 and 2018? What is streaming?
• What is a Streaming Warning?

So this article explains what a warning for streaming is, what streaming means, how you should proceed against it and what you have to consider. Furthermore it will be explained why a streaming warning was sent especially in the years 2017 and 2018, how to deal with it and what costs a streaming warning can cause.

Warning and streaming? What is streaming anyway?

According to Wikipedia, streaming is “the simultaneous transmission and playback of video and audio data over a computer network. The process of data transmission itself is called streaming and transmitted (“streamed”) programs are called livestreams or short streams”.

The playback of programmes via a livestream is usually different from classical broadcasting. While broadcasting is sent to an undefined number of receivers at the same time (broadcast), streaming usually involves a direct connection between the server of the sender and the client of each individual user. The distribution is often carried out via streaming portals and Internet-based media libraries. (You can read more about this here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_Media ) Here’s an interesting fact: According to estimates for 2019, video streaming is responsible for 80% of the increase in global data traffic and consumes enormous amounts of energy.

What is a warning in connection with streaming?

Now that we know what streaming is, we still need to clarify what a warning is. Wikipedia can help us here as well. According to Wikipedia, a warning is a “formal request to refrain from a certain action or behavior”. A warning notice can be issued by a lawyer in various fields of law such as trademark law, industrial property rights, copyright law or also labour law. With regard to streaming, we are only interested in copyright warnings, since a warning for streaming is about the infringement of the copyright of the streamed films.

A streaming warning is therefore the official request of an owner of intellectual property (film) not to distribute the work.

In this respect it is also very interesting that in a streaming warning, it is not the viewing of the film but the distribution of the film that is being warned. Many streaming services, where films are watched, not only download the film temporarily but also make it available to other users of the same platform at the same time. And this is the actually illegal act for which you get a warning for streaming.

So it would be like standing in front of a DVD shop and giving away self-burned DVDs of a film available in the shop. So it is quite understandable that the owner and creator of the film, who also invested money to have the film made, wants to take action against this. In the past he would have done this with a lawyer or the local police, now that the crime has shifted to the Internet he does it with a stream warning Streaming Warning Probability: what is the probability to get a warning for streaming? The probability to get a warning because of streaming is difficult to determine. There are some surveys among law firms and persons who have been warned themselves, and inquiries have already been sent to the law firms that issued the warning. However, the topic has not been properly investigated and the warning firms will most likely not respond, as they are not interested in consumers calculating their chances of being warned for streaming a film. The only thing that is certain is that not every streaming leads directly to a warning. There are various portals where warnings are most often found and also portals where no warning is issued at all. The decisive question here is again whether the person watching the film also distributes the film at the same time. If this is not possible due to the settings of the platform, a warning for streaming cannot be issued, as the filmmakers’ intellectual property is not infringed.

Streaming warning costs: What are the costs for a streaming warning?

The all-decisive question for people who have been warned is of course the question of the costs that a streaming warning will entail. The financial damage is what causes the most pain, even more than the question whether one is at fault or not or whether one is in the right or not. The costs of a Streaming Warning can be divided as follows:

• Costs that the law firm charges in the warning
• Costs incurred in taking action against the warning

Costs requested by the Registry in the warning letter

The costs which the law firm issuing the warning letter demands in the warning letter are divided into two cost items: firstly, there is the compensation for damages. The compensation is the money that the firm that owns the intellectual property of the streamed work claims for making your work (intellectual property) available free of charge on the Internet by the person who has been warned. From the point of view of the film company, the fact that the work was available for free on the Internet and that people watched the film on the Internet deprives the company of income, for example from cinema visits or DVD sales. This income, which the owner loses, is considered “damage”.

And since the person who has been warned is responsible for the fact that the film was shown for free (he made it available to others while watching it himself), the company would like to claim compensation for the damage caused: damages.

The amount of compensation can vary depending on the work for which a warning has been issued, whether it is a film or series or even several films. In most cases (films) the compensation amounts to 700 €. This amount goes to the copyright holder (usually: film company).

The second block of costs that is claimed by the law firm issuing the warning are the lawyer’s fees or prosecution costs. This is the fee that the lawyers charge you for claiming the right of the party issuing the warning, creating and sending the warning, etc. Since the person who has been warned is potentially in the wrong, you must pay the legal costs in addition to the damages. These costs are always based on the amount in dispute and are calculated according to a table. In simplified terms, one could say that the higher the amount in dispute, the higher the legal costs. In most cases, the costs for a series are also lower than those for a film. The costs of legal prosecution go to the law firm issuing the warning, that’s how warning law firms earn their money. A frequent amount for legal prosecution costs for e.g. a film with a compensation of 700 € is 215 €, so that often a total of 915 € is reached.

Costs incurred to take action against the warning

There are various possibilities to take action against warnings, which involve different costs. If you decide to appeal against the warning letter with a lawyer, a lawyer’s fee is due in advance, regardless of whether the appeal is successful (case is solved) or not. This fee can be calculated according to the scale of fees. However, many lawyers also offer flat rates in advance, which can be between 150 € and 590 €. In most cases, payment must be made in advance.

Another model is the performance-based negotiation model. This model is particularly suitable for cases in which the user is aware of his guilt or wants to get the matter off the table quickly and cheaply. In this case, no appeal is lodged and no lawyer is appointed, but an independent and neutral agreement professional, conflict solver or mediator who ensures that an agreement is reached by negotiating with both parties. NO advance payment is necessary here. The negotiation professional is paid according to success and only receives his money if he has really brought about an agreement. For example, if he manages to reduce a warning sum from 1000 € to 500 €, he will receive 25% of the saved amount, so that the client can pay 625 € to settle the case within a few days.

Warning about streaming from the years 2017 and 2018: what to do?

Many customers ask themselves whether it is possible to negotiate and conclude the process with warnings from the years 2017 and 2018.

Through our platform we receive more and more requests with the subject: Warning about streaming 2017 and 2018, but why were so many stream warnings issued in 2017 and 2018? Or better asked: were more warnings issued in the years 2018 and 2017 than in the other years? We have done some research and compiled statistics. According to our statistics, no more warnings were issued in these years than in the years before. Although we also receive very recent warnings from this year and warnings from previous years, which date back to 2010 (the limitation period is 10 years), a high proportion of warnings are from 2017 and 2018.

In our opinion, this is due to the fact that the time until users decide to really proceed against a warning is actually 1-2 years. And since we are now in the year 2019 / 2020, the warnings for streaming 2017 and 2018 appear more frequently during this time. The reason for the delay could be that the law firms issuing the warning letters do not let up and often send out several letters to make sure that the warning letter has actually been delivered and of course to make your request heard and thus ultimately put pressure on the person who has been warned, which in most cases works.

Since many warning letters from the years 2017 and 2018 have already been successfully negotiated by our settlement professionals, this is not a problem. Our settlement professionals and lawyers have developed their own strategy for this.

For people who have received a streaming warning at a later date, the following should be said:

From a negotiation point of view, in our experience it is better to face the warning directly and not wait 1-2 years. Waiting weakens the negotiating position and can cause a lack of understanding on the other side. As a rule, the earlier and the more credible you deal with your warning, the higher the chances of success.