TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Film Studios Win $24 Million Against Web Site


Film Studios Win $24 Million Against Web Site


Lisa Minter (lisa_minter2001@yahoo.com)
Thu, 25 Nov 2004 11:28:19 EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hollywood's major movie studios said they won
a $23.8 million judgment against a California company and its
Malaysian owner for operating a Web site that charged customers to
download illegally copied movies.

The company, MasterSurf Inc, is owned by Tan Soo Leong, and it
operated a site called Film88.com, according to a statement by the
Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the studios in
governmental and industry matters.

The award was handed down earlier this week in U.S. District Court in
Los Angeles as a default judgment, meaning the defendants never
responded, according to the MPAA.

The defendants could not be reached for comment.

The studios want to amass legal rulings against Web sites offering
illegal copies of films for downloading as they press their campaign
against copyright piracy.

The studios claim illegal copying and distribution of movies on videos
and DVDs cost them more than $3.5 billion annually, and they are
concerned that distributing illegal film copies on the Internet will
cost them billions more.

They have mounted educational and legal efforts aimed to end copyright
piracy, and are now suing individual users who copy and share digital
copies of movies via the Web.

Reuters/VNU

*** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material the
use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This Internet discussion group is making it available without
profit to group members who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the
understanding of literary, educational, political, and economic
issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. I
believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material
as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish
to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go
beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright
owner, in this instance Reuters News Service/VNU.

For more information go to:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: Lisa Minter: "Cyber Cops Say 'Tis the Season to Be Wary"
Go to Previous message: Henry: "Re: The Persuaders"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page