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Archive for the ‘Movies and TV’ Category

Producers of The Hurt Locker prepare to sue alleged downloaders UPDATE : May 19th

May 13th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

UPDATE : It seems the President of the film’s production company is a bit touchy when someone disagrees with their method of suing alleged downloaders.

One of the readers of the site Boing Boing sent the President of Voltage Pictures, Nicolas Chartier, a note stating (quoted from DailyTech) :

“I wish to register my disagreement with these tactics, and would like you to know that as a result of these actions I am boycotting your films. The majority of the people you are suing were not seeking to make money from their downloads,” explained the reader. “While it is completely understandable that Voltage Pictures wishes to defend its intellectual property, this is an inhumane way of doing so.”

Apparently Chartier felt the need to respond, and did so in such a reasonable manner…

Hi Nicholas, please feel free to leave your house open every time you go out and please tell your family to do so, please invite people in the streets to come in and take things from you, not to make money out of it by reselling it but just to use it for themselves and help themselves. If you think it’s normal they take my work for free, I’m sure you will give away all your furniture and possessions and your family will do the same. I can also send you my bank account information since apparently you work for free and your family too so since you have so much money you should give it away… I actually like to pay my employees, my family, my bank for their work and like to get paid for my work. I’m glad you’re a moron who believes stealing is right. I hope your family and your kids end up in jail one day for stealing so maybe they can be taught the difference. Until then, keep being stupid, you’re doing that very well. And please do not download, rent, or pay for my movies, I actually like smart and more important HONEST people to watch my films.

Yeah. Way to keep things from spinning out of control, Nick. It’s good to know that the head of a movie studio involved in a massive lawsuit isn’t letting his emotions cloud his judgment. And this will DEFINITELY play well when it comes to trying to convince people that you aren’t an elitist looking down upon the common folk and proclaiming “Let them eat cake…”

EARLIER STORY : As has previously been seen, Hollywood is getting serious about following the RIAA model of suing groups of downloaders. And now we see the next step in that new model.

The Hurt Locker won the award for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. While it had been relatively popular on torrent sites prior to the win, it became a bittorrent juggernaut after taking home the big prize. At the same time, it wasn’t a commercial smash at the box office.

So, in an effort to make back some revenue, the producers of The Hurt Locker are preparing a massive lawsuit. From The Hollywood Reporter : (more…)

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: lawsuit agaiinst alleged downloaders, The Hurt Locker, US Copyright Group, Voltage Pictures

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Canada again? Really USTR?

April 30th, 2010

Brad McGraw

Today the United States Trade Representative released its annual ‘Special 301’ report. This is a report that basically says how bad other countries are and how they are being mean to the United States. What makes the whole ‘Special 301’ report pretty meaningless is that for years the USTR has listened only to the industries who are complaining about how mean other countries are to the wholesome US media conglomerates. The USTR has finally opened the doors to allow more access to them, but then they pretty much ignored everybody but the industry anyway. This includes the CCIA, which sent in its own report to the USTR saying how Canada should not be on the list. The CCIA includes such companies as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, AMD, T-Mobile, ebay.

Canada, again, is on the ‘Priority Watch List’, which means that Canada has been a very bad boy indeed! Rampant piracy, loss of sales, children and dogs running amok! Oh the humanity!

(more…)

Posted in Games, Movies and TV, Music

Tags: Canada, ESA, Michael Geist, MPAA, RIAA, Special 301, USTR

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DRM on Avatar Blu-Ray discs causing problems

April 27th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Avatar, the movie that made approximately 7 gazillion dollars at the box office, came out on DVD this past week. Unfortunately, it seems that the DRM used to keep the Blu-Ray DVD from being copied at all has also kept the movie from being playable at all for many buyers.

As with all movie studios, Fox is of the opinion that making a copy of your movie for yourself makes you a terrible human being. What’s next…you’ll want to rip that movie to your iPod?! Monstrous! Obviously, a person could become so addicted to easily copying their movie to various media that they’d just start making copies for everyone. Soon, nobody would buy movies because of that damned Bob Nabors from Wisconsin! No, we have to nuke it from orbit! It’s the only way to be sure…

So Fox throws a DRM system on to Avatar copies that keeps some Blu-Ray players from even reading it properly. In some cases, it can apparently be fixed by downloading a firmware update. In others…you’re hooped. And yet I’d be willing to put some money down on a bet that Avatar is available right now on movie download sites…

Way to go, Fox. Good job.

(Thanks to The Consumerist)

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: 20th Century Fox, Avatar, Blu-Ray DRM

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Netflix puts one month delay on Fox and Universal new releases

April 10th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

In January, Netflix signed a deal with Warner Bros. that put a 28 day delay on Netflix adding WB new releases to their catalogue. In exchange, Warner Bros. gave Netflix more favourable financial terms. A similar deal has now been struck between Netflix and both 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures.

Whenever a new Fox or Universal movie releases on DVD, Netflix will hold off on adding it to their distribution catalogue for a period of 28 days. As with the earlier WB deal, Netflix will receive more favourable financial terms. Much of the cash saved in these deals will be used to beef up their digital streaming distribution system.

The studios believe that delaying Netflix availability will also delay widespread piracy of their new releases, and also help to maintain the market for physical outlets like Blockbuster, who also recently signed a deal guaranteeing continued access to new release movies with Warner, Fox and Sony Pictures.

It’s quite likely that similar deals will be struck between Netflix and the other major movie studios.

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: 20th Century Fox, Netflix, New release delay, Universal Pictures

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Tens of thousands targeted in new litigation against alleged movie downloaders

April 3rd, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

In the sort of mass litigation previously seen only enacted against European movie downloaders, more than 20,000 alleged movie torrent downloaders have been sued for copyright infringement in Washington D.C. courts. According to the report on The Hollywood Reporter, another lawsuit against 30,000 more people is likely imminent.

The suits are being brought about by US Copyright Group, who describe themselves as :

…a company owned by intellectual property lawyers that has one singular mission and focus: to stop movie copyright infringement and make illegal downloaders pay damages for the content they have stolen. From Washington D.C. to Los Angeles, technology companies and a conglomeration intellectual property law firms work hand-in-hand with each other to end unlawful downloading and illegal file-sharing of films.

(more…)

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: copyright infringement, Guardaley IT, MPAA

6 Comments »

James Cameron posits that innovation should be the focus, not piracy

March 27th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Want to cut down on the impact of movie piracy? James Cameron suggests that making the theatre experience something that people are interested in paying for is the answer.

That was one of the points made during a roundtable discussion at the 2010 CTIA trade show.

"In film we have definitely felt threatened by piracy," he said. "We saw the music industry crash and burn in its efforts to stop it. But with G4 (I think he meant 4G wireless) and Moore’s Law, you can’t fight it."

He said the music industry made a critical mistake by trying to stop piracy instead of innovating to give consumers new experiences that the industry could use to generate more money.

"The music industry saw it coming, they tried to stop it, and they got rolled over," he said. "Then they started suing everybody. And now it is what it is."

And while the chair of the discussion made the claim that the National Broadband Plan’s attempts to push higher bandwidth Internet access to more homes could possibly lead to more piracy, Cameron responded that he felt more high-speed bandwidth could help during the creative process.

Cameron’s latest movie, Avatar, has topped $2.6 Billion in worldwide revenue, helping to offset the fact that it is also the single most pirated movie of the past year. A lot of that revenue came from the fact that people were willing to shell out the money for the full theatre experience, including more expensive 3D showings.

Of course, 3D has to be attractive to consumers to really make an impact. This week’s news that the average charge for a 3D movie showing will be going up by as much as $3-$3.50 per ticket could sour the public’s interest in paying extra to see the 3D version.

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: Avatar, innovation, James Cameron

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RealNetworks ends push to sell their DVD copying software

March 4th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Last year, RealNetworks brought out RealDVD, a DVD copying program that would allow people to make a copy of a protected DVD on their computer. Hollywood responded by going after the software in court, claiming that it would be used by movie renters to rent a movie, rip a copy and then never consider purchasing a copy of the DVD itself. In October, the MPAA succeeded in getting a temporary injunction that barred sale of RealDVD. At the same time, the movie studios pushed forward a lawsuit that claimed that RealDVD was a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and represented a misuse by RealNetworks of their DVD encryption license.

RealNetworks was fighting it in court, but as reported by the New York Times, they have decided to settle, paying the studios $4.5 million in accrued legal costs and ending the fight to have the temporary injunction lifted. This essentially ends any chance of the software ever seeing the light of day.

“We are pleased to put this litigation behind us,” Bob Kimball, president and acting chief executive of RealNetworks, said in a statement. “This is another step toward fulfilling our commitment to simplify our company and focus on our core businesses.”

Jacob Pak, president of the DVD Copy Control Association, the industry group that controls licenses to DVD encryption technology, hailed the agreement. “Now, after months of arguments from both sides, the legal message is clear: making a DVD copier is a breach,” he said in a statement.

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: DMCA, RealDVD, RealNetworks

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Use open source software? You’re a pirate.

March 3rd, 2010

Brad McGraw

The Guardian reports that a US copyright lobby is trying to get the US Trade Representative (USTR) to include countries that use open source software to be included in the USTR’s Special 301 list. Countries like Indonesia, Brazil, India, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. Why these countries? Because they have enacted legislation to have public entities switch over to open source software.

So who is this copyright lobby? The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), basically a front group for the RIAA, the MPAA and the ESA. The same ones behind every Three Strikes Law in various countries, the ones calling the shots over ACTA which is in secret talks and completely non-transparent to citizens of the countries this would effect. So basically the people with something to gain, which are exactly the wrong people who should be guiding these things.

These are also the same guys who applauded the fact they got Canada placed on this list, despite the fact that Canada complies with its international IP agreements and works with the US government on these issues. The CCIA, basically an industry heavy group with members like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, nvidea, AMD, ebay, etc, fully backs Canada and says Canada’s laws are fine. In fact Canada’s IP laws are in many ways more strict than US laws are.

(more…)

Posted in Movies and TV, Music

Tags: ACTA, ESA, FOSS, MPAA, open source, RIAA, Special 301, USTR

1 Comment »

Wal-Mart shows belief in movie delivery via Internet

February 28th, 2010

Cliff Riseborough

Logo unfamiliar? It belongs to Vudu, a company with a library of 16,000 HD movies viewers can buy or rent via their broadband Internet connection.

Oh, and Wal-Mart just announced that their purchase of Vudu is imminent.

Yes, the nation’s #1 seller of DVDs is entering the ‘buy online’ marketplace, tired of losing business to Netflix and the like. Where they take it from this nascent beginning is the question.

Do they switch to a subscription model from the pay-per-flick system currently in place in order to directly challenge Netflix? Do they use distribution contracts with electronics companies to begin pushing Vudu ‘package deals’ with DVD players and/or television sets? And what exactly is Wal-Mart’s relationship with major Hollywood film studios like…can they get favourable distribution deals, or will they be restricted in terms of new release rights as Netflix and Apple are?

What we do know is that Wal-Mart and Best Buy (who will be offering movie-download software with every web-capable device bought in US stores) both seem to think that web-distribution is the way to go for the movie business. The surge in popularity of Netflix and Apple seem to indicate the same. Does Hollywood agree?

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: Internet movie delivery, Vudu, Wal-Mart

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NBC to fight Olympics piracy

February 9th, 2010

Brad McGraw

NBC has come out against adding Olympic content online. In 2008 for the summer Olympics NBC provided 2,200 hours of live streaming, this year they plan to only provide 400 hours (Curling and Hockey). Their reasoning?

“It is about the watercooler moment and staying connected to the games through instant storytelling. People are not dying to watch lots of long-form content on a 13-inch screen.”

So their plan is to only offer highlights of other events.

On top of this they are actively going to try and cut any unauthorized live feed of any event.

“Our aim is to make access to pirated material inconvenient, low quality and hard to find,” said Rick Cotton, NBC’s evp and general counsel. In terms of Web piracy, “you are never going to go to zero. But there has been a sea change in terms of recognition of the problem.”

Is this really the best direction to take? It actually flies in the face of their own research during the 2008 summer Olympics.

“The Internet hardly cannibalizes; it actually fuels interest,” said Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s president of research, in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Is it any wonder that NBC is predicting its going to lose hundreds of millions of dollars broadcasting the Olympics? Instead of embracing the online world and expanding advertising to that, they’ve decided to spend money to combat it

Posted in Movies and TV

Tags: NBC, Olympics, Pirates

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