Broadcaster HBO has sent ‘take down’ notices to Periscope, the live-streaming video app owned by Twitter, after users of the app broadcast episodes of the hit show Games of Thrones on Sunday night.
Twitter maintains that the Periscope app complies with US copyright law.
“We are aware of Periscope and have sent takedown notices,” an HBO rep told the Hollywood Reporter.
Periscope’s Terms of Service make it clear that copyright infringement is not allowed.
“Twitter, Inc. respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects users of Periscope Services to do the same,” reads the Terms of Service, which explain that authorized takedown requests will be honoured and that “In appropriate circumstances, Periscope will also terminate a user’s account if the user is determined to be a repeat infringer.”
Copyright infringement has been a huge issue for HBO. On Saturday, online leaks of four episodes had come from within a group that had received preview DVDs.
The episodes of the first four series of Game of Thrones were illegally downloaded more than seven million times between 5 February and 6 April this year, according to piracy specialist Irdeto, as marketing for the new series ramped up.
This was a 45% increase on the same period last year, the company said.