The International Olympic Committee Issues Multiple DMCA Complaints to Google to Block Thousands of Pirated Paris Olympics Live Streaming Websites

For sports events, there are plenty of resources available for live streaming, making many pirated live streaming websites a thorn in the side of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These websites provide users with direct live broadcasts of the Paris Olympics.

The IOC is very strict about protecting its intellectual property. For instance, using the Olympic rings image or even just the word "Olympic" can cause legal issues, especially when used in a commercial context.

The IOC is constantly searching for pirated websites and submitting DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaints to Google, requesting the removal of these sites from search results to prevent other users from finding and watching pirated streams through Google search.

Google processes these DMCA notices as required by law and records them in its Transparency Report. The Google Transparency Report shows that in July, the IOC had issued DMCA notices against thousands of URLs, which Google then removed from its search results as requested.

In the DMCA notices, the IOC states:

Please be aware that the International Olympic Committee owns all rights to the Olympic Games and Olympic properties, especially the audiovisual content produced for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

Transmitting or broadcasting such Olympic content via the Internet or any other interactive media or electronic medium without the prior, explicit written approval of the IOC is not permitted.

According to our records, the IOC has not granted you this approval.

This notice is aimed at pirated websites, asserting that the IOC has not granted these sites the relevant rights, therefore, they are infringing, and Google is required to act according to the law.

So far, the IOC has requested Google to remove 5,907 URLs from its index, the vast majority of which are pirated streaming video websites. Surprisingly, not one is a torrent site.

This makes sense, as torrent downloading involves certain barriers and requires a significant waiting time. Thus, with the rise of numerous pirated streaming websites, users can instantly watch content without needing to download. This method offers a better user experience, naturally deterring them from learning how to search and download videos via torrent files.