Hollywood Studios File New Round Of Web Lawsuits

KingFish (KingFish) Hollywood's major movie studios filed a new round of lawsuits across the United States on Thursday against people who trade illegally copied films and TV shows on the Internet.

February 26, 2005 1:37 PM ET in News,

Hollywood’s major movie studios filed a new round of lawsuits across the United States on Thursday against people who trade illegally copied films and TV shows on the Internet.

The civil suits against unnamed “John Doe” defendants seek up to $150,000 per downloaded digital file and come as the U.S. film industry prepares for its annual Oscar telecast in Hollywood where awards for top films and stars are given out.

The studios, represented by the Motion Picture Association of America, took the opportunity of the Oscars to again press the case that the illegal copying of films and their black-market distribution on the Internet is costing them millions of dollars a year in lost revenue.

The studios claim they lose $3.5 billion worldwide in annual revenues from sales of illegally copied movies on video and DVD formats in street bazaars and black markets.

150k per download? Good luck collecting on that one MPAA… -KF

Source: Reuters

8 Comments:

  1. RWB
    26 Feb '05, 6:58 pm

    Idiots. I wouldn't download any movies becuase the quality is ****ty and I don't like watching movies on my PC when I have a large TV. But I cannot see how they could possibly loose that much money per year from downloads. Most the people who download are just kids who wouldn't even buy them in the first place.

  2. entropy
    26 Feb '05, 7:04 pm

    Hah. Tards. They can't expect to win. Even though I don't download movies anymore (RWB, DVDrips are great quality ), I have friends who do. It's not that hard.

  3. Private_Snoball
    26 Feb '05, 8:30 pm

    I like the comment Kingfish.

    I have DLed some movies off the internet (only DVD rips) and I can say they are good quality, but usually I just dl movies I wouldn't dare spend money on, or that I can't find anywhere else. I recently picked up a copy of the Cowboy Bebop movie and I must say it was awesome, if I ever find it in stores I will buy it in a heartbeat because I feel the people that created the movie and the show deserve money for that great piece of work.

    See a**holes, not everyone who DLs movies is out there to screw over the system.

    Maybe there loss of 3.5 billion dollars has something to do with the trash that has been coming out of Hollywood (except the CG films, they are awesome).

  4. RWB
    26 Feb '05, 8:52 pm

    trash..... yes..... horrible crap, I haven't even gone to the theaters since "Hero" came out, and that isn't a Hollywood film either!!!

    Too much crap, just like music industry, I no longer listen to anything anymore(bought or downloaded) except my Japanese CD's(language).

  5. Armo
    27 Feb '05, 5:13 pm
    Quoting Private_Snoball

    I recently picked up a copy of the Cowboy Bebop movie and I must say it was awesome, if I ever find it in stores I will buy it in a heartbeat because I feel the people that created the movie and the show deserve money for that great piece of work.

    I actually found a copy at Target and snaged it up faster than you could see

  6. TheSmJ
    28 Feb '05, 3:59 am

    How much are the typicall winnings of these RIAA suits anyways?

  7. Gobbles
    28 Feb '05, 10:58 am

    150K????? I can buy the damn movie at walmart on dvd for 14.95 when it releases...

    so if they came after me, id buy the movie at walmart and call it even as they got their money through my walmart purchase..

  8. TheSmJ
    28 Feb '05, 6:40 pm
    Quoting Gobbles

    150K????? I can buy the damn movie at walmart on dvd for 14.95 when it releases...

    so if they came after me, id buy the movie at walmart and call it even as they got their money through my walmart purchase..

    What they ding you for is distributing the file to others, not downloading it w/o paying.

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