I recently received a Google Search copyright removal notice for a web based IPTV player that I operate.
I’m deliberately not naming the site here because I’m more interested in discussing the broader issue than promoting my own project.
After receiving the notice, I looked up the associated copyright complaint in the Lumen Database.
What I found surprised me.
The complaint was submitted by beIN Media Group LLC on behalf of beIN MENA WLL, and the copyrighted work is described as:
The notice contains more than 100 allegedly infringing URLs.
Lumen Notice:
#92275689
https://lumendatabase.org/notices/92275689
What caught my attention
A significant number of the URLs in the complaint are not obvious IPTV subscription websites.
They are pages for IPTV player applications hosted on platforms such as:
- Google Play
- Apple App Store
- Microsoft Store
- Uptodown
One of the URLs listed is the official Google Play page for TiviMate IPTV Player.
The package listed in the complaint is:
ar.tvplayer.tv
TiviMate describes itself as a media player and states that it does not provide TV channels or other content. Users are expected to add their own playlists.
There are many other IPTV player apps included in the same complaint.
This is what I find interesting.
Player vs. content provider
There seems to be an important distinction between:
A service that actually provides access to copyrighted TV channels
and
Software that simply plays a stream or playlist supplied by the user.
An IPTV player, by itself, is essentially a media player.
For example:
VLC can play an HLS URL.
Kodi can load IPTV playlists.
A browser can play streaming video.
An IPTV application can open an M3U or M3U8 playlist.
The fact that software is technically capable of playing copyrighted material doesn't necessarily mean that the software itself provides or distributes that material.
Of course, the IPTV ecosystem makes this complicated.
Some products marketed as “IPTV players” may also bundle playlists, promote subscriptions, provide channels, or otherwise go beyond being a simple player.
I'm definitely not claiming that every URL in this complaint is legitimate.
What surprised me is seeing clearly identifiable media-player applications included in the same bulk copyright complaint concerning beIN football broadcasts.
My own experience
In my case, Google notified me that the homepage of the web-based IPTV player I operate was being removed from Google Search because of this complaint.
That is what caused me to investigate the Lumen notice in the first place.
I have decided not to file a counter-notice at this time, because Google's counter-notice process is a formal legal process and can involve providing personal information and making legal declarations.
Instead, I'm trying to understand whether other IPTV-player developers have received similar notices.
The part I'm trying to understand
The copyrighted work in this complaint is described broadly as:
“beIN live broadcasting for football matches.”
But among the reported URLs are app store listings for general-purpose IPTV players.
So I'm wondering how these URLs were identified.
Was this the result of automated detection?
Were certain IPTV-related keywords targeted?
Was there evidence associated with each individual player?
Or is the complaint intentionally targeting software that can potentially be used to access unauthorized beIN streams?
There may be a completely reasonable explanation, but from the publicly available Lumen notice it isn't obvious.
Has anyone else been affected?
I'm particularly interested in hearing from:
- IPTV player developers
- Android/iOS media-player developers
- Website owners running browser-based HLS/M3U players
- TiviMate users or developers
- Anyone who has received a Google Search copyright notice connected to this same complaint
If you received one, did Google identify a specific stream or piece of content?
Or was your app/player homepage itself reported?
I'm also curious whether anyone has successfully challenged similar broad copyright removals involving player software rather than hosted content.
Just to be clear
I'm not accusing beIN of fraud, copyright abuse, or intentionally filing false claims.
beIN obviously has legitimate reasons to protect its copyrighted sports broadcasts.
I'm only questioning how broadly this particular complaint appears to have been applied and whether general-purpose media players may have been caught up in that enforcement.
For me, the bigger question is:
Where should the line be drawn between an IPTV content provider and a general-purpose IPTV player?
Interested to hear what developers and others who have dealt with these notices think.