Following the lead of record companies suing small-time song-swappers, The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is representing several Hollywood movie studios in the first wave of lawsuits against individuals who have downloaded and/or are sharing movies over peer-to-peer networks.
When asked exactly how many suits have been filed, John Malcolm, senior vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said, "It's not important. It doesn't matter if it's 10 lawsuits or 500 lawsuits. The idea here is that there is no safe harbor." Three lawsuits, obtained by The Associated Press, were filed in federal courts in Denver and St. Louis. Two lawsuits were filed in Denver against 22 defendants, while the one in St. Louis targets 18 individuals.
The lawsuits seek injunctions against the defendants. Copyright law also provides for penalties of up to $30,000 for each motion picture traded over the Internet, and up to $150,000 if such infringement is shown to be willful. Malcolm said more lawsuits would be filed in additional cities if the current legal action does not stem illegal downloading.
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When asked exactly how many suits have been filed, John Malcolm, senior vice president and director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, said, "It's not important. It doesn't matter if it's 10 lawsuits or 500 lawsuits. The idea here is that there is no safe harbor." Three lawsuits, obtained by The Associated Press, were filed in federal courts in Denver and St. Louis. Two lawsuits were filed in Denver against 22 defendants, while the one in St. Louis targets 18 individuals.
The lawsuits seek injunctions against the defendants. Copyright law also provides for penalties of up to $30,000 for each motion picture traded over the Internet, and up to $150,000 if such infringement is shown to be willful. Malcolm said more lawsuits would be filed in additional cities if the current legal action does not stem illegal downloading.
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just take some extra precautions....like Peerguardian and whatnots. Your cheap if you don't share
Senate May Ram Copyright Bill
...do us all a favor...
This whining about lawsuits is getting ridicilous. MPAA and RIAA are suing people who are infringing copyright. It is irrelevant if you would buy the product or not if you couldn't copy it. What is relevant is that you are using a product that you shouldn't be able to use without paying. Seriously people, is that rental fee (3.5 € in the local kiosk here in Finland) too much? If you think that movies produced nowadays aren't good then don't watch movies. You can live a happy life without watching a single movie.
So no only will the costs of these suits be passed onto me when I see, rent, or buy movies... my tax $ will also help fund these things. While i am all for them trying to shut down the real pirates (those making proffits on bootleg sales), fruitless lawsuits that are going to cost me money piss me off... and the worst part is, they are not losing any money from the file sharers (except for made up numbers that have no substantial proof).
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