The Motion Picture Association of America said on Tuesday that it has filed an unspecified number of lawsuits against people who trade copyrighted movies online, following through on plans announced earlier in the month.
The organisation also said it will release free software to help parents and other computer owners identify all the music, movie and peer-to-peer software files on their machines.
The software, designed to scan hard disks for media and peer-to-peer files, will soon be freely available from the MPAA. A representative of the group said the program, developed by a Danish software company, does not yet have a name.
It will only identify files, not automatically delete them, the group said.
The trade group, which is following in the path of a similar legal strategy laid down by the Recording Industry Association of America, declined to say how many people it is suing or what file-swapping networks it's focusing on. However, an MPAA representative said suits will be brought across the United States and that this will be just the first of successive rounds of legal action against individuals.
"The motion picture industry must pursue legal proceedings against people who are stealing our movies on the Internet," MPAA chief executive Dan Glickman said in a statement. "The future of our industry, and of the hundreds of thousands of jobs it supports, must be protected from this kind of outright theft using all available means."
After years of letting the RIAA take the lead in legal action, the MPAA has stepped up its campaign against peer-to-peer networks on several fronts, hoping in large part to frighten would-be file-swappers into dropping the practice.
The lawsuits are being accompanied by a series of full-page newspaper advertisements, running in college publications and in mainstream titles including The Wall Street Journal.
One of these ads shows a finger clicking a mouse, alongside a headline emblazoned in red: "Is this you?" That's followed by a long list of user names and IP addresses typical of those found on file-sharing networks such as Kazaa, eDonkey, DirectConnect, Grokster and LimeWire, which are named specifically. "If you think you can get away with illegally trafficking in movies, think again," the ad warns.
The ad campaign will also be supported by the Video Software Dealers Association, which plans to post versions of the ads in 10,000 video stores across the United States, the MPAA said.
Talkback
What about the billions of dollars that is being lost in China from their copying? No one likes to talk about that. Let's just sue our client base! I do agree something needs to be done, but is this the only option?
This is bullshit, they should know by now that all they are doing is wasting more money trying to catch people that are smarter than they are. Sure, they might catch a few kids and maybe an adult or two here and there, but the traffickers that really STEAL movies and makes thoudsands of copies aren't even in thwe US. GROW UP MPAA!!!! Stop being like a whiny woman.
Hmmm... A tool that helps look for coyright ingringing files...
How hard can it be to create a tool that does a
search for *.avi; *.mpg; *.mov; *.WMV; *.asf
and then just say all of it is in copyright violation?? If they want MY trust for such a tool then OPEN SOURCE IT, so I/we can see if there is any questionable internet related coding in it!? (Like I'm gonna take the word of some piss-ant entertainment executive???)
You don't trust anybody, why should anybody trust you???
How about simply reduce the price of everything to a REAL world level so people won't use piracy to work around ridiculous entertainment prices.
The entertainment industry is faaaar to top-heavy.
It's the ridiculously high-priced beaurocrats and executives in the MPAA, and RIAA that keep the prices of everything out of the reach of average people.
WE'LL CHANGE WHEN YOU BLOODY CASH-HUNGRY EXECS CHANGE!!!
The 9th Circuit court rules that bloggers and online news sites do not get the same 1st amendment rights as the traditional offline press does.
Quotes: Fosbinder criticized the panel for failing to “even mention” the First Amendment and argued that if a similar standard were applied to print media, it would authorize a copyright owner to “shut down the New York Times on a mere suspicion.”
The “good faith” standard has been held, under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, under federal securities laws, and in other contexts, to include an obligation to make a reasonable investigation into the truth of an allegation before making it, Fosbinder said.
The court’s interpretation of the DMCA creates “a second class of First Amendment protection for a new mode of communication,” Fosbinder said. If the interpretation is correct, then the DMCA is unconstitutional, he declared.
An amicus brief was also filed in the case on behalf of the Internet Commerce Coalition, a trade association which includes AT&T, BellSouth Corporation, eBay Inc., MCI, SBC Communications Inc., Time Warner, and Verizon Communications.
This ruling affirms that copyright holders do not need to conduct ANY investigation in order to have an online news website shut down. It shows that online news sites do not get the same rights as tradition news outlets.
This ruling also shows how as reported on Fox News: "The 9th Circuit seems to wield an awful lot of power, and it is the most reversed court in the nation," "There's some serious judicial activism going on there." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,139436,00.html
Links: http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/ross120204.htm
http://www.internetmovies.com/legal.html
The Ruling: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/5F0FA19839BAF10A88256F5D0003D3C3/$file/0316034.pdf?openelement
Contact: Jim FOSBINDER of FOSBINDER & FOSBINDER A LAW CORPORATION for comments or interviews
(808)244-1524 tel. toll free: (877)244-1527
Or Mike Rossi of InternetMovies.com @ 808-283-2885
Please help get this story out. This is most certainly going to supreme court and may very well help prove the DMCA unconstitutional