Support NeoGAF

[DrForester]

http://www.finalgear.com/news/2014/07/18/all-episode-links-removed-due-to-dmca-take-down-notice/

Demand for Immediate Take-Down: Notice of Infringing
Activity

Url: http://www.finalgear.com
Date: 03/07/14

Dear Sir / Madam,

BBC Worldwide Consumer Products, Soda Pictures has received
information that the domain listed above, which appears to
be on servers under your control, is offering unlicensed
copies of, or is engaged in other unauthorized activities
relating to copyrighted works owned by BBC Worldwide
Consumer Products.

Identification of copyrighted works:

Copyrighted work(s):
Top Gear
Top Gear Australia
Top Gear America

Copyrighted owner(s):
BBC Worldwide Consumer Products

Statement of authority:

The information contained within this notice is accurate,
and I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that I am
authorized to act on behalf of BBC Worldwide Consumer
Products, the owner of the copyright(s) in the work(s)
identified above.

I have a good faith belief that none of the materials or
activities listed above have been authorized by BBC
Worldwide Consumer Products, its agents or the law.

We hereby give notice of these activities to you and
request that you take expeditious action to remove or
disable access to the material described above, and thereby

prevent the unauthorized distribution of the work(s) via
your companys network.

We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

Yours Sincerely,
Peter O Rourke

Director Of Intelligence & Investigations Federation
Against Copyright Theft copyright@fact-uk.org.uk

T: +44 (0)20 8891 1217
F: +44 (0)20 8892 7845

For and on behalf of:-
BBC Worldwide Consumer Products
33 Foley Street
London
W1W 7TL
United Kingdom

I guess it had to happen someday, but the really odd thing about this is just how high profile the site was. They have been mentioned positively by both the UK show cast and crew before in a positive light. When they were starting Top Gear USA, FinalGear forum members were invited to the pilot taping to give their input. This was hardly a fansite doing this in the background.

I can't think of the BBC ever caring about Top Gear piracy before. Even BBC America has joked about it in ad campaigns.

 

[neogaffer1]

Looking at that it looks like a copyright agency pushing for the links to be taken down rather than the BBC themselves. Guessing media lobby pushed them to be harder on piracy and they did this to get them off their backs.

 

[LanceVance]

Isn't a lot of topgear on Netflix? Maybe they pushed for it

 

[amnesiac]

Why do people even bother with torrents considering the massive amount of (illegal) instant streaming sites out there? Seems like a waste of time.

 

[B-Dubs]

BBC has made numerous jokes about the fact it's so easily torrented, why do they give a shit now?

It reads like it's not the BBC but the BBC's copyright lawyer cousin!

 

[DrForester]

BBC has made numerous jokes about the fact it's so easily torrented, why do they give a shit now?

It reads like it's not the BBC but the BBC's copyright lawyer cousin!

Yup, wish I could change the topic name.

 

[Prophet Steve]

Why do people even bother with torrents considering the massive amount of (illegal) instant streaming sites out there? Seems like a waste of time.

Better quality, probably more reliable, easier to find one? Downloading torrents doesn't take long.

 

[B-Dubs]

Yup, wish I could change the topic name.

You could PM a mod. They do that sort of thing all the time.

It's too bad they're going after FinalGear since it's the only place to see a few of the Top Gear specials.

EDIT: Not that I download anything illegally since that would be against the TOS and very wrong.

 

[neogaffer1]

Why do people even bother with torrents considering the massive amount of (illegal) instant streaming sites out there? Seems like a waste of time.

Most streaming sites are sketchy and aren't easy to find with Google blocking more and more of them. Torrents are easily available through ThePirateBay. There's also the fact that someone was able to make a client that basically does what Netflix does except uses BitTorrent to stream the movies. Won't link to it though.

More OT, this reminds me of what Cartoon Network did with the3eds back in the day. There was a time where you couldn't get most of the Ed, Edd, n Eddy episodes anywhere. Only one DVD with a few of the episodes was released. The3eds hosted all the ones that were no longer aired, and that was the only place where you could find them. Then CN slapped a cease and desist even though they didn't sell the shows themselves. It wasn't until years later where you could finally get the whole series on iTunes, which is totally worth it.

 

[M.Bluth]

That's a shame. But it'll be available elsewhere, so the whole threat is pointless.
The BBC should've saved themselves the legal fees.

Isn't a lot of topgear on Netflix? Maybe they pushed for it

I think Netflix is missing the very first series.
I am glad, however, that they have pretty much all the episodes, and are the full-length ones which include the news segment, as well as the original music*


*(Though maybe not all of the original UK broadcast music, haven't checked for sure)

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Yep. This will definitely make people unable to download the latest episode within minutes of it airing from a hundred other places on the net.

Isn't a lot of topgear on Netflix? Maybe they pushed for it

Doubt it.

https://torrentfreak.com/netflix-uses-pirate-sites-to-determine-what-shows-to-buy-130914/

 

[Gr1mLock]

Good luck with that. Going by the rate of how many episodes they've been producing in the last couple years they really shouldn't have bothered.

 

[kudoboi]

Isn't a lot of topgear on Netflix? Maybe they pushed for it

AFAIK they are one or two seasons behind