Wal-Mart: sued for film piracy?
p2p news / p2pnet: With the MPAA behind it, the US Justice Department says a 19-year-old US man secretly camcorded a movie, making him liable for a long jail sentence and a huge fine.
Will the movie hit organization now act on behalf of Robert Greenwald of Outfoxed fame?
“Everyone has seen Wal-Mart’s lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?”
That’s the intro on Greenwald’s latest promo site featuring WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price which, “takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel… and shop”.
Greenwald came up with the brilliant Outfoxed which took a long look at Rupert Murdoch’s ‘balanced reporting’ empire.
If you haven’t seen it, see it ; )
Meanwhile, Greenwald spotted Wal-Mart consultant John Marino “pointing his open cellphone toward the screen” during the High Cost release, says the New York Times.
So Greenwald threw Marino out.
“Rick Jacobs, the chairman of Brave New Films, which is distributing the film, said he was considering filing charges against Wal-Mart and the consultant for attempted piracy, says the NYT.
“You can’t just go in and record a movie,” Jacobs said. “Wal-Mart should know. They are the largest seller of DVD’s in the country.”
Quite right. Just ask the MPAA.
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
See:-
jail sentence – Lamar Smith crows over victory, October 3, 2005
Outfoxed fame – Outfoxed’ goes p2p, September 17, 2005
New York Times – Wal-Mart Movie Opens With Fracas in Manhattan, November 2, 2005
November 7th, 2005 at 2:20 pm
Its funny..A multimillion dollar business in piracy?
November 7th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
“Its funny..A multimillion dollar business in piracy?”
Hundreds of songs were pirated from my family by music publishers who passed themselves as owners for many years, licensed the songs and collected royalties. The funny part being that the judge found the practice to be a non infringement and non damaging one.
Now this is hillarious part: The judge did not even order the infringing companies to pay the illegally collected royalties or to notify their customers that did not own their songs and their licenses were illegal and to stop the distribution of additional records.
The we sued two RIAA record companies for each producing 16 or more records with songs owned by my father. One of these companies is Sony and the other is Sonolux, part of Organización Ardila Lülle, one of the largest South American conglomerates.
The funny part is that the lawsuits, both filed in 2001, are undecided by the two judges in the cases. Hillarious, no?
And the FBI says that copying is a crime! Well, te judges think otherwise. Hillarious, no?
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
November 7th, 2005 at 5:42 pm
The United States of America became the Police States of America when the rule of law was thrown out. Congress which passes unconstitutional laws as well as the judges that uphold these laws are responsible for destroying a nation that was once free. We are now ruled at the whim of politicians and judges rather than laws. At one time, laws in the United States applied more or less equally to members of the population, but now, that is not the case.
A law’s applicability to a particular person is inversely proportional to the amount of money that person has. In other words, a person or corporation that has loads of cash are more able to flout the law. If Michael Jackson had screwed little boys on national TV, I’m sure he still would have stood a good chance of being aquitted. Whether he did the crime or not is of little relevance in the court system. What is relevant is whether his lawyer was better than the prosecutor.
It is time to take back the power that the judges usurped:
http://www.fija.org
It is time to take back the power that the politicians usurped:
http://www.lp.org
http://www.constitutionparty.com