p2pnet.net News:- Today, a multi-billion-dollar international corporate community announced it’s using its entire financial and legal weight to nail p2 file sharing, using the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) as the hammer.

Following in the RIAA’s footsteps, the movie studios are launching a campaign not to eradicate counterfeiting, but to intimidate teenagers, mostly, into abandoning their posts to the p2p networks.

Why the studios think their MPAA will succeed where the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) has failed they don’t say.

Be that as it may, below for your continuing education is the full, unexpurgated puff piece, excluding a couple of self-serving advertising items from ‘interested parties’ at the end.

Read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Studios to Begin Suing Illegal Film File Swappers
Governor, Legislators, Studio Executives, Union Leaders, Filmmakers and Others Back Movie Industry in Actions Against Traffickers

LOS ANGELES - The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. today announced its lawyers will expand the MPAA’s campaign to prevent film piracy, working with its members and other film studios to file lawsuits against people who have illegally traded digital copies of movies over the Internet.

“Illegal movie trafficking represents the greatest threat to the economic basis of movie-making in its 110-year history,” said MPAA President and CEO Dan Glickman, who was joined during the announcement by studio executives, union leaders, filmmakers and others. “People who have been stealing our movies believe they are anonymous on the Internet, and wouldn’t be held responsible for their actions. They are wrong. We know who they are, and we will go after them, as these suits will prove.”

The studio lawsuits were announced at the renowned School of Theater, Film and Television at the University of California, Los Angeles, one of the nation’s great training grounds for future filmmakers, whose ability to pursue their careers is threatened by the impacts of piracy. As well, UCLA has been a leader nationwide in efforts to clamp down on improper use of campus resources, implementing forward-thinking policies and technologies that quarantine traders of illegally copied movies and music, restricting their Internet access until offending material is removed from their computers. The University of California system as a whole has partnered with the MPAA and its member studios, sharing information on illegal file-sharing trends and indicators, developing policy recommendations and testing pilot projects.

A recent federal interagency report estimates that counterfeit and pirated goods, including those of copyrighted works, cost the American economy $250 billion a year. In response to the report, the U.S. Justice Department and other federal agencies have committed to increased law-enforcement and prosecutorial efforts against pirated and counterfeit goods. The MPAA estimates “hard goods” movie piracy costs the film industry $3.5 billion a year. That total does not include losses from hundreds of thousands of illegal downloads swapped over the Internet each day.

“We all know that digital distribution is the wave of the future, and the studios have all supported legal download services in various ways,” Glickman said. “But we cannot allow illegal trafficking to derail legitimate new technologies that provide consumers with affordable, convenient access to high-quality movies on the Web. Trading a digital file of a movie online without paying its owners is no different than walking into a store and shoplifting a DVD.”

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a member of both the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild of America, endorsed the announcement, which meshes with his own recent initiatives against illegal file-swapping.

“I applaud the decision by the MPAA and its member companies to take strong action,” Gov. Schwarzenegger said, “and I join the U.S. Department of Justice, the State of California, the recording industry and others in making sure that people use the great promise of the Internet responsibly and ethically, and that motion pictures remain an important part of California and the nation’s economy in the decades to come.”

The governor recently signed a bill making it a misdemeanor to swap movies or music online without revealing the trader’s e-mail address. The governor also issued an executive order banning the use of state resources, including computers and Internet access, to illegally swap copyrighted material.

“The movie industry has contributed immeasurably to California’s economic strength,” said Schwarzenegger. “It has also helped many of my own dreams come true. We cannot let illegal movie piracy continue or it will cripple this important industry and seriously hurt California’s economy. We must teach our children that the illegal downloading of movies and music is wrong, and that it has consequences.”

The creative industries — including book publishing, music, video, television and movies — are the single largest sector of the U.S. economy, generating more than 5 percent of American gross domestic product. The copyright industries also comprise the only U.S. industry sector to run a trade surplus with every other country in the world.

“Our members are the artists who conceive and create entertainment content consumed by millions of people around the globe,” said Daniel Petrie Jr., president of the Writers Guild of America, West. “Online piracy takes income directly out of real people’s pockets.”

“IATSE represents many of the nearly 1 million people whose livelihoods depend on the work they do in many roles behind the camera for the movie business,” said Thomas C. Short, international president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. “People who steal films online threaten the economic security of these master craftsmen, technicians and artisans and their families. Their work and creative efforts deserve to be protected.”

For decades, the MPAA has staunchly fought piracy in many forms, facing both the challenges and the opportunities of new technologies and movie formats, whether on celluloid, television, satellite, cable TV, videocassettes, DVDs or online. This latest enforcement step will help ensure a bright future for movies in the digital era.

Lawsuits will be filed against individual file-swappers across the country beginning Nov. 16 by MPAA member companies. The civil suits seek damages and injunctive relief. Under the Copyright Act, statutory damages can be as much as $30,000 for each separate motion picture illegally copied or distributed by an individual over the Internet, and as much as $150,000 per motion picture if such infringement is proven to be willful.

“Filing suit against movie thieves is our latest step in a wide-ranging, multi-pronged anti-piracy effort, but far from our first,” Glickman said. “But file-swapping is a viral threat that we must bring under control now. File traders must realize that bad things happen when you steal copyrighted material. These lawsuits are just one of those bad things.”

The studios have embraced the digital era on many fronts while confronting its challenges. Those efforts have included building public awareness and expanding and supporting legal online movie services such as MovieLink, CinemaNow and Moviebeam. And film fans already can see movies in many different ways, for many different prices, in many different settings, ranging from theatrical releases in a state-of-the-art cinema to DVDs and VHS tape sales and rentals to video-on-demand services, pay-cable and free broadcast TV offerings.

Contacts Available for Comment on MPAA Announcement

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

“The movie industry has contributed immeasurably to California’s economic strength. It has also helped many of my own dreams come true. We cannot let illegal movie piracy continue or it will cripple this important industry and seriously hurt California’s economy. We must teach our children that the illegal downloading of movies and music is wrong, and that it has consequences. I applaud the decision by the MPAA and its member companies to take strong action, and I join the U.S. Department of Justice, the State of California, the recording industry and others in making sure that people use the great promise of the Internet responsibly and ethically, and that motion pictures remain an important part of California and the nation’s economy in the decades to come.”

Daniel Petrie Jr.
President, Writers Guild of America, West
“Our members are the artists who conceive and create entertainment content consumed by millions of people around the globe. Online piracy takes income directly out of real people’s pockets.”

Thomas C. Short
International President, International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)
“IATSE represents many of the nearly 1 million people whose livelihoods depend on the work they do for the movie business. People who steal films online threaten the economic security of these master craftsmen, technicians and artisans, stagehands and their families. Their work and creative efforts deserve to be protected.”

Video Software Dealers Association
“Theft of movies over the Internet impacts not only Hollywood, it hurts local businesses in every community in America. VSDA estimates that illegal downloading of movies is currently costing each video store in America, on average, more than $10,000 per year. Internet-based theft of movies is more serious than shoplifting, which virtually everyone regards as morally wrong and illegal. Those who flout our nation’s laws by engaging in unlawful file-sharing of movies must be held accountable for the harm they inflict.”

Additional Resources

David IsraelitePhone: (202) 514-2008
Chairman, U.S. Department of Justice Intellectual Property Task Force

John Fithian Phone: (202) 962-0054
President & CEO, National Association of Theater Owners

Go here for a .pdf of the announcement

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See:-
nail p2 file sharing - MPAA to sue file sharers, p2pnet, October 4, 2004
has failed - P2p movie file sharing stats, p2pnet, November 4, 2004

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 4th, 2004 at 9:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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