The MPAA decides to sue like the RIAA.

The motion picture industry has long been the king of the copycats. If a sci-fi vampire movie kicks ass at the box office, you can usually bet you will see more of the same. After a slew of movies which are remakes of television shows, including such stellar programs as :

The Avengers
Starsky and Hutch
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch
Brimstone and Treacle
Lost in Space
Charlie's Angels
Dudley Do-Right
The Flintstones
The Fugitive
Dennis the Menace,
George of the Jungle
Inspector Gadget
I Spy
Josie and the Pussycats
Little Rascals
Lost in Space
Maverick
McHale's Navy
The Mod Squad
Mr. Bean
Mr. Magoo
My Favorite Martian
Pennies From Heaven
The Quatermass Experiment (remade as The Quatermass Xperiment)
Quatermass II (remade as Quatermass 2)
Quatermass and the Pit (remade under the same title)
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Scooby-Doo
Scum
The Singing Detective
Starsky & Hutch
S.W.A.T.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Untouchables
The Wild Wild West
Bewitched (in the making presently)

They apparently are running out of not only original ideas, but ideas to copy. But, never say die, this time, they copied a real doozy of any idea. They decided that the RIAA lawsuit thing was going so well, that they needed to get in on a piece of the action.

So, November 16th, the lawsuits begin. November 16th should
mark a dark day on the calendar of everyone at the MPAA.
Thus far, movie companies have been very successful selling tickets up until now, but greedy bastards that they are, they are going to manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Any good will they may have had from those of us who regularly go to movies, or rent movies, will be expended when they start down the yellow brick road of suing poor sixteen year olds downloading a poor copy of Lord of the Rings or something even less worthy of watching.

I for one intend to watch what happens on November 16th with interest. When entertainment companies set themselves in a litigious adversarial role against the very people they depend on to keep their industry afloat, that is about as smart as sawing a tree limb where it attacks at the trunk, when you are perched out on that limb midway.

Yeah MPAA, you go ahead and sue your customers. Really piss off the very demographics which are your bread and butter. That's a GREAT plan.....LOLOLOLOLOL.
~Code

Code I hardly ever agree with much of anything that you say, and don't agree again. For the most part. You forgot to mention just how much films like Titanic made. The Matrix movies? Mission Impossible? Shrek 1 and 2? BILLIONS!!! So what's the problem with people downloading movies? How much REAL lost revenue is there? Not nearly as much as they are claiming. I truly hope there is far more of a public backlash with the MPAA trying this than the RIAA.

Steve, I think we do agree. The Matrix and the rest made them a LOT of money...but, that money was made, often, from the demographic they will target with these suits, kids in the teens and twenties. The point is, it is folly for the MPAA to spend a lot of money going after a few kids downloading The Hulk or whatever, and the amount of negative press they SHOULD get for this, will certainly overbalance any financial reward they get from a quick settlement. My points are:
1) This is a silly idea
2) We should boycott the MPAA for this crap
3) They are cutting their own throats with this stupid scheme.

If after reviewing these, you decide we still disagree, then we shall agree to disagree.

there is a problem with this backlash theory.

litigation is old hat now. if they hear about someone else litigating theyll just say "what else is news.. another plane crash maybe? is the alert orange again? how about the latest low carb product?"

the action is old.. and so really is the reaction.. will there even be one?

How about a theory that the RIAA and MPAA are actually both uniting in a concerted effort to combat the technology of file sharing, with the expectation that Congress and Ashcroft's successor will go to bat for them.

There will be for me. While I haven't purchased anything from the majors, I have been buying dvds of movies. Always thought that was money well spent.

The day they start the sueing is the day I stop buying. Plain and simple.

I think what the deal with this beginning of the legal action is the result of:

1) The RIAA has been doing this long enough to make it old hat. It is the hope of the MPAA they will just be another voice in an ever growing crowd of those seeking damages far out of proportion to to the real value of the item they claim theft of.

2) It has been stated that the RIAA is making money on this. A sure fire hit. They don't have to do anything but threaten to sue. Through fiscal terrorism it is cheaper to cave in than fight. Those victims are picked most carefully for that aspect. If you don't have the money to fight it then the only recourse is to give up far less to get out of the deal.

3) When a case is taken to court, one of the prime considerations is, does the copywrite holder seek to protect those copywrites or not. If it is a one time deal, mostly they won't look at it twice. To get the claim of infringement backed by the court they must show that they are aggressive in the protection of those copywrites and not lackadaisy.

4) This is looked at as a profit making enterpise by those corporations much the same as a new product. The corporation doesn't care what it does to the individuals it sues. It only cares that its claim is verified and that more money is made than was spent in the legal process.

5) It isn't that they are suffering from loss of sales from p2p. Heck they got record ticket sales. No, it is the idea that you might look upon a movie that wasn't paid for first, no matter how bad the quality of the movie, just by the hype put out. You have to look no farther than the movie The Hulk to see what a diaster that was at the ticket office. Word got out on the p2p nets of just how bad that movie was done. Screeners were out and you could see for yourself, if you were so inclinded. While I didn't do that, I didn't go to the movie either. The word spread from the p2p to the guy on the street pretty quickly.

I refuse to support fiscal terrorism. Any corporation that does such will see the end of money coming from my pockets. I suspect there is a crowd of corporations just waiting to see how this goes and how it can be converted to a money maker for them without having to develop some other product. Call it a sideline business...

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "

I do believe the first TMNT movie was a mix of both the 1987 cartoon, AND the 1984 comic series. The comic version fo the turtles and Splinter's origin are used, as well as the turtle' love for pizza and partying, for example.

the only way I could see a public outcry is if another 12 year old girl gets in the spotlight and her family is ruined because of it

I like the term "fiscal terrorism" that you've been using, wet1.
I buy quite a few DVD's too. In fact, I just bought "Gone With the Wind" yesterday. I've seen it on TV many times, but it's been years. It was one of my mom's favorites. I look forward to watching it on a big screen TV.
How can we let these corporations know that we don't approve of their actions, and that we will not support them?

Well if there is a backlash against the MPAA, you can sure bet that the RIAA is going to slowly walk away whistling as if they didn't have any influence on the MPAA's decision to sue consumers.... lol

Wet1 said: "I suspect there is a crowd of corporations just waiting to see how this goes and how it can be converted to a money maker for them"
I agree with you. I posted a pretty boring article about a week ago about a company that is bringing in big bucks by suing big companies for violating their patent. There was a company that sold teleconferencing systems that connected meeting rooms. It became obsolete. They tried to do some things with PCs and the internet. That was failing, too. Now, all they do is sue. It's very lucrative.

I suppose it is time to boycott the MPAA. I mean it too. Let’s do it. I am sick of these money hungry people thinking that they can do pretty much whatever they want. Here is an idea, www.boycott-riaa-mpaa.com or www.boycott-riaaandmpaa.com.

i'd prefer a name like "copywrong.com"

or is that already around.

INTERESTING...

copywrong.com is owned by a group which will give it away for free to those willing to actively promote a cause in relation to its name..

GET ON IT GUYS! : )

Legally, a corporation is classified as a person for many purposes. But it also has only one obligation: to maximise profits for its shareholders, by any means nessicary. If the corp were human, it would be classified as psychopathic - unable to even comprehend, let alone care, that others could be hurt by its actions.

So, what is the MPAA? A collection of psychopaths? A mercinary group? Or just a simple lynch mob?

shall there be a boycottmpaa then? You know what why dont we just go ahead and make a down with capitalism site while were at it. Looks like we're heading that way folks. America is suing itself to pieces. BTW if we could find proof that this is all for moneymaking couldn't we get them for frivolous lawsuits?

Code - what makes you think this tactic will hurt the MPAA's sales when the RIAA is already doing it and their sales are up?

its funny that they bitch over this... we should be bitching about the 12.00 it is to go see a movie... the MPAA needs to straighten out thier priorities... we pay their salaries... im not going to the movies again when i can download it for free... its utter bull

Mroop: In the RIAA schizophrenic world the sale are up but in real life it is way down. In the RIAA propaganda P2P traffic is down but in real life it is way up. All this BS is for the investors and few other morons that still believe them.

"Code - what makes you think this tactic will hurt the MPAA's sales when the RIAA is already doing it and their sales are up?"

mroop.. when they started this their sales were still falling.

they had fallen over 35% since 2k2 and did not start to pick up until LONG AFTER the rest of the economy had signalled a recovery.

Their litigation continues, and their sales continue to show lack luster performance when compared with the rest of the economy.

Maybe more poeple would go to the movies if it didn't cost ten bucks a person

mroop said:
"Code - what makes you think this tactic will hurt the MPAA's sales when the RIAA is already doing it and their sales are up?"

Just call me a cockeyed optimist mroop

The studios wouldn't have to worry about piracy nearly as much if they droped their staged-release-by-region business model. They use advertising to create a huge demand for their produce, deliberately refuse to satisfy this demand, and then complain when someone else does.

Go ask a random person on the street if he/she knows that the MPAA is about to sue individuals. Chances are that person will not know. It is likely that that person doesn't even know what MPAA stands for. We have to remind ourselves constantly that outside our little web community, people are not in touch with the same news and facts we are presented with daily. This is the greatest hindrance to our cause. If Joe Public is exposed to what we read daily, there would be more action, more negative feelings toward the industry. We must strive to be more than ranters, we must be educators. Anyone who sees fit to come into this forum and vent, must also take the initiative to foster eductation on the changes this site extols. Even if you just tell a few folks per week. To be fair, the industry shenannigans have seen some slight coverage, mostly in web news media, but Joe Public, who watches the nightly news on TV, is not going to see, hear, or know about the in-depth travesties we read about daily. We cannot afford to be a forum of bitchers, we need to be a forum of initiators. Web sites do not breed change, action does. Get out there and tell someone.

The Food&Drug announced today they are going to put wire anntena devices in thier dug containers so they can track the shippment of drugs to find out if they are counterfit. They also said it would not be used to identify consumers hahahaha just shipment companies. Wouldn't that be a good idea for the RIAA and MPAA to track down real buyers? that why they could prove to us how good sales really are.

amen delta

RFID for you, RFID for me
nevermore will it be true that we are free

I'll be happy when file sharing is driven to anonymous networks like it's doing. Checkout MUTE & Ants and a newcomer called GAIM which uses the messaging networks like MSN etc to swap files anonymously.