Sony video clips for Grouper
p2pnet.net News:- In what it undoubtedly hopes will turn into a kind of user-funded viral advertising-slash-sales movement, Sony Pictures Entertainment is using Grouper.com, which it bought for $65 million in August, to get people to in effect sponsor “snippets” from Sony films and TV shows on their web pages.
And guess what? It won’t sue anyone who uses the clips, “to integrate into blogs and on social networking sites such as MySpace,” Sony says in a CNET News item.
“Universal Music Group filed suit against Grouper and Bolt.com for allowing users to post UMG’s copyright material on those sites,” says the story, also pointing out that YouTube was sued last summer by a Los Angeles journalist.
“To avoid court battles, some video sites are trying to strike content-sharing deals with studios and music labels,” says CNET.
“That’s what Sony said it is after with Grouper’s new ‘ScreenBites’ channel. By offering famous scenes from hit films for free, Sony is hoping fans will be prompted to buy the full-length movie, the company said in a statement.”
Links are posted with each clip that enable users to quickly purchase the entire film, and Grouper ceo Josh Felser is quoted as saying that had Grouper not been part of Sony, “the deal may not have ever gotten done,” says the story.
Really?
And, “Even as a unit of Sony, Grouper had to wait until it received the proper rights clearances, video from Sony’s library was pulled, and contracts with actors and other creators were checked for clauses that may prevent such an offering,” adds CNET.
Also See:
$65 million - Sony gropes Grouper, August 23, 2006
CNET News – Copyright eased for clips offered by Grouper, November 9, 2006
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