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In a hearing held today by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet Subcommittee on the negative impacts of movie content thieves, MPAA vice president Michael O’Leary made the battle against movie pirates sound downright patriotic. “The key foundation of American industry, the expectation that hard work and innovation is rewarded, is imperiled when thieves, whether online or on the street, are allowed to steal America’s creative products and enrich themselves along the way,” he said. “Rampant theft of American intellectual property puts the livelihoods of the workers who invest time, energy and fortune to create the filmed entertainment enjoyed by millions at risk; to these men and women and their families, digital theft means declining incomes, lost jobs and reduced health and retirement benefits. We believe that rogue sites legislation, combined with the Administration’s work with intermediaries and enforcement by the IPR Center, will go a long way towards shutting down the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted works and close a gap in the intellectual property law.”
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The MPAA is downright un-American, or do you boys want to discuss why Sucker Punch was given a PG-13 instead of an R after making the changes you suggested?
Seriously, google it, and prepare to be pissed if you’re a woman, or actually think gender equality matters, which apparently the MPAA doesn’t.
“prepare to be pissed if you’re a woman, or actually think gender equality matters’
I can’t laughing… Gender Equality?! My side hurts.
Nah, it’s American. It engages in corporate America’s favorite past-time: years-long licensing lawsuits that cost millions of dollars and result in lose-lose victories.
“… puts the livelihoods of the workers who invest time, energy and fortune to create the filmed entertainment…”.
The Un-American thing about this story is referring to the studios as the ‘workers’ in this quote with the exception of those high enough on the creative chain to receive residual payment.
How much of the billions lost ever trickles down the chain to the real “workers”?
Thanks, MPAA for fighting the battle for the ‘workers’.
Comment by “The Workers”:
You’re an idiot. When the studios lose money by having their product stolen, it results in less profits, which results in less product which results in less jobs.
Also, residuals are paid DIRECTLY into benefit funds for TEAMSTERS — yes, “the workers” that you are most likely referring to – the hard working men and women who work long hours on set.
And by the way, stupid, a young writer on a show – or a writer who sells a pitch to a studio, will VERY often make substantially less than a teamster who works a full year and gets some overtimes. You’re such an elitist fool you just think that people who work with their hands for a living can’t make a GOOD living.
Anyway you slice it, PIRACY IS STEALING AND UNETHICAL. Get a fuckin job and earn the $9.99 to buy a DVD instead of stealing it, loser!
Dear Smart Person with Real Knowledge,
Obviously, you are not a wordsmith by trade. I’m guessing you are the lowest paid writer…if and when you work.
The comment is not about the piracy issue at all. No one encourages this, and it obviously impacts the industry. The point is that the BILLIONS lost, mostly by the studios sleeping through the technology they so love to use have backed themselves into a corner. All of the hardworking laborers to whom you refer have long been paid before these losses are incurred. And, if you believe these BILLIONS will be put more into production efforts than executive bonuses, back end deals, residuals, and stock dividends…then you live in fairy land.
The ‘losers’ are people like you who attack the messenger rather than reading and understanding the message, Mr. Smart Person with Real Knowledge.
Let me comment to this, the reason studios are losing money is that they absolutely refuse to get with the times and learn how to make money and give people a product at a price they deem it to be a value. This is why things like Netflix on Demand take off so strongly, people see value in it. As an example let’s take the gaming industry, for the longest time developers have had to publish a game, burn DVD’s make boxes, books, pay for shelf space and fight for it against competition. At this time games ran $49 a piece, piracy was high because some people could not afford that, or just did not see the value in it (and we can’t force morals). Steam came along when these companies were having a hard time still fighting for shelf space, and offered a new solution.. we take a small cut of the profit, you can sell it here directly to the customer and allow them to download it.. Steam now makes up 70-80% of the PC gaming market, they had toyed with the idea of talking developers into having huge insane sales, taking their $50 game and putting it up for $5 for a weekend.. because since they are not paying for discs, and boxes and shelf space.. it’s pure profit.. a few tried it and their revenues went through the roof.. in doing so they found that even people who had pirated their games.. bought a copy at that price.
Movie studios are stuck in the 1980′s and have not evolved, they are not being creative with new ways of selling their product, they hit the digital download space and charge more for a digital copy than they do for the dvd.. they are morons, and until they wake up and take advantage of the new business model that the internet provides, they will suffer for it.
You can’t simply multiply the quantity downloaded by the going price per unit to find the amount lost. Some things that get downloaded would never have been bought. You are an obvious tool, go fuck yourself, while I save myself $9.99 by torrenting my movie instead of buying it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah – we all should pay our money (even if we don’t have much money in this economy) so that drug addict narcissist like Charlie Sheen could get 2 million dollars per episode and then spend them on drugs. Or all those others rappers or b-list actors could have their money and then get drunk, party and drive. And don’t forget – poor celebrities need those $12 million dollars to buy new house. So we all need to give them our money…
Seriously – they need more money for those ordinary, non-celebrities movie workers? Then STOP PAYING those actors so much money. Like in that hockey league. I’m waiting when they will realize it and will stop pay them 1 million per episode or $15 millions per movie. Why the hell? All those people who make special effects, write script, write music etc. work so much harder then those actors. If EVERYONE will stop pay so much then those actors would have to take whatever they are offered.
In the 19th Century US publishers would print, without license and – mais biensur – royalty, the successful literary works of British authors.
Hollywood is in California and not New York because the industry took a powder rather than pay Edison royalties on making movies. Thomas E. held patents and the De Milles-to-be wanted a country between them and his collectors. Somehow, despite Edison being thwarted of benefit from all his potential revenues, the motion pictures arts and sciences advanced.
So let’s roll up the red, white, and blue bunting. Maximizing profits by minimizing costs through inequitable treaties, legal rights breached and/or nullified, and five finger discounts is probably more truly American than whatever is they, above, want.
I have not seen a movie in the past three years that I would want to pirate. The movie studios have a long history of not getting it. Like VHS, DVD, re-introducing 3D?, and such. Want to make a profit, try making a movie that is actually entertaining to the masses, not for your best friends and some studio hacks high on this weeks drug.
Unamerican? but most of the pirates are not american and are not based in america.
Aww, boo-hoo Follywood! Poor yous! Get with the technological programs, stop bashing Republicans and start bashing our real enemies in the movies AND real life, and stop charging usurious rates to see a 90 minute film or disc! Then your losses might lessen-not disappear, but lessen!