The UFC has been adamant in pursuing copyright infringers who distribute their broadcast without their permission. One such individual Steve Messina, gave up his fight against the league as he confessed in a statement of his wrongdoing. The New York state resident had been alleged to have downloaded and distributed UFC pay-per-views through torrenting sites like the Pirate Bay in conjunction with broadcasting live streams as well, a violation of the UFC copyright and transmission right. Messina had gained a following a gathered support for his cause, alleging his innocence. He crowd funded most of his legal defense, but his fight came to an end this week. As he confessed to the allegations and agreed to turn over his computer and to help ZUFFA with the particulars of his operation so that future infringement can be mitigated.
The UFC's war against infringers and pirate streams is understandable as the band keeps growing. On the other hand, this is a sport that has benefited greatly from these streams and underground videos which were traded quite frequently and was able to spread the sport through word of mouth. Now that the league is where it is. It is looking to shut the door and infringers in order to preserve its right to exclude. A right that is rightly protected by US Copyright law. This also is a concern to the UFC and Zuffa as it continues to expand to new markets with questionable enforcement of copyright infringement.
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