Movie Industry Wants File Sharers To Pay $1000 Per MOVIE!!!

[Mels_Smileys45]

Major movie studio starts targeting file sharers, demands 1000 bucks for each downloaded movie




Ordinary file sharers have largely been spared by Hollywood and its world-wide partners so far, but it looks like this is about to change: Germany-based movie powerhouse Constantin Film has started the first mass-scale enforcement effort against file sharers. Constantin has been identifying more than 10,000 file sharers as infringers in recent months, and it has started to send threatening letters to about 500 of them, according to an article published in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

The company is using these letters to demand out-of-court settlements, asking for 800 Euros (about 1000 USD) per infringing work as well as the promise to not commit any further acts of infringement. Downloaders that don't pay up can expect a full-fledged lawsuit.

Constantin Film is Germany's biggest motion picture production and distribution company. IMDB credits it as the production company of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Resident Evil: Extinction, DOA: Dead or Alive, as well as countless German titles. It also has Germany-wide distribution rights for Hollywood flicks like Michael Clayton and Basic Instinct 2.

Constantin executive Bernhard Burgener told the newspaper that his company has been going after file sharers since March. Burgener called the 1000 USD his company is demanding from file sharers "largely symbolic." Accused file shares that don't quite make as much money as him may disagree.

Mass-scale copyright enforcement through costly out-of-court settlements has been pioneered by the German music industry, who recently broadened its focus and is now also targeting Rapidshare uploaders. The tactic was quickly copied by porn studios that have been targeting tens of thousands of German file sharers in recent years.

However, if there's one lesson to be learned from those music and porn enforcement campaigns, then it's that rights holders don't just want to crack down on German downloaders. In fact, the very same enforcement companies that have helped to make Germany the testbed for a taking no prisoners approach of intellectual property protection have also started to export these tactics to other countries, leading amongst other things to thousands of threatening letters to UK residents accused of downloading video games. It wouldn't be too surprising to see Constantin go after file sharers in other countries as well.


Story source

[rainbowdemon]

That's just as bad as the RIAA. But then again, they gave up!!

[El Comandante]

If they can sue you for $5,000 per song in open court what will a movie be worth? $250,000? Those $1,000 demands are an abuse of the legal process..... extortion.

[1cooldude]

This is getting too comical with their pre-assessed fines.Next time I get pulled over for speeding, I'll just slip mr.officer a fifty and be on my merry way...:006:

[drtoker]

Reminds me of blockbuster charging outragious prices when you didn't return a movie. Now they are capped to the current price of a used copy of the movie.

I don't understand how these companies figure they can abuse legal systems this way. They aren't out 1k when some one downloads the movie, they are out the price of 1 movie, period. Unless you are convicted of uploading, thats all they can get.

[1cooldude]

Who said they are abusing a legal system? They are just doing what comes naturally. Legal system becomes active when you tell them to f-u and they file a law suit. You'd be amazed what falls out of the tree when you give it a good shake. Not all monkeys have two hands and two feet.. :pokey:

[Mels_Smileys45]

I saw a show on msnbc with that guy with the curly hair and head set who gives financial advice where at&t had charged a guy $47,000 to download Shrek to his laptop for his daughter. After a lot of run around they reduced it to $17,000 and claimed they were charging him EXACT cost for the bandwidth he used. He thought he was being charged by the minute but they charged him by the megabyte. After msnbc got involved at&t cut most of the bill but they would not disclose how much the final bill was. Before msnbc made a story out of it no one would even talk to the man about it and they actually used the word "fair" when talking about the $47,000 movie charge! Bogus!