

Hurt Locker Producers To Sue Thousands of Piraters - huangm
http://thresq.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/hurt-locker-producer-to-sue-pirates.html

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ars
It's their own fault for being idiots and not actually screening it in
cinemas. People who download on bittorrent will almost never pay - they are
not your customers. Ignore them.

Your customers will pay, but only if they can. It only screened in a few
cities, so it's their own fault for making it impossible for people to pay
them.

The movie business is doing really well right now. bittorrent has not had the
slightest effect. If your are not making money on a movie it's your own fault
- not bittorrent.

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pl0nk
> It's their own fault for being idiots and not actually screening it in
> cinemas

Do you think they really just forgot to screen it?

Or could it instead just be that it's difficult to get broad distribution
without a gigantic budget and/or sequel to a safe franchise? Somehow I imagine
it was harder for them to get screenings than it was for Iron Man 2.

~~~
ars
This film was talked about as a prime Oscar candidate for months before the
Oscars.

They really can't get distribution for an Oscar film? I doubt that. I think
they just miscalculated the timing.

Or they could have sold DVDs _before_ the Oscars. People would have bought
them once they won.

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petercooper
_You cannot make a professional movie in your garage basement using a Mac._

I wonder if a movie shot in 7 days that has made $192 million and had a wide
international release counts as "professional":
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_Activity_(film)>

~~~
SapphireSun
Still, while I liked it very much, I wouldn't want every film to use that same
style. It's pretty hard to work without a budget, and in the aggregate,
quality will suffer.

~~~
petercooper
I suspect if some weird law were passed that said movies could only be made
for < $100,000 and had to be sold for $4.99 a pop on iTunes, some very clever
and amazing movies would eventually dominate the scene (and our idea of what a
"good movie" is would change). Formula 1 racing has sorta thrived on this
constant budget and tech limitation process, and yet the cars keep getting
faster :-)

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GiraffeNecktie
I don't understand how the person who only happens to be paying the bill to
the ISP can be held responsible for anyone using that IP address. If the
neighbour's kids come over and hold a LAN gaming party and download a bunch of
movies, who broke the law? The guy who let them use his Internet connection?

~~~
wmf
You're welcome to try that argument in court; if you're truly innocent it
should work. The alternative sounds like a "get out of jail free" card for
copyright infringement (or any other Internet-based crime).

~~~
lutorm
I don't understand your "get out of jail free" comment. It's the equivalent of
being charged for robbery if someone saw your license plate number on the
getaway car. While it seems plausible you could get a search warrant on that
basis, unless they have other evidence I don't see how a mere IP possibly
could be "beyond reasonable doubt".

~~~
culled
Not that I'm a lawyer but I believe this will be tried in civil court where
the standard of proof is lower than "beyond a reasonable doubt".

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kevinh
Just in case anyone is wondering, you need a "preponderance of evidence" in
order to win a civil suit.

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metamemetics
Clearly the WORST news mentioned in this article is that Uwe Boll is still
making movies. God help us.

[http://www.cinemablend.com/features/Uwe-Boll-Money-For-
Nothi...](http://www.cinemablend.com/features/Uwe-Boll-Money-For-
Nothing-209.html)

~~~
aaronbrethorst
I read a while ago that he's primarily funded by a group of moneyed Germans
who need a reliable tax write off. Not sure if it's true or not, but it's
entertaining enough to repeat.

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samd
Because it has worked so well for the music industry.

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RevRal
I'm confused. They're suing the people who downloaded it when it was leaked
five months prior to its official release, or everybody? Tens of thousands is
a lot of people to sue.

I hope I wont have to regret running a Tor relay for the past ~year and
bridging for China.

~~~
there
_I hope I wont have to regret running a Tor relay for the past ~year and
bridging for China._

i was subpoenaed and deposed for a civil lawsuit that resulted from a forum
post made through my tor exit node. i explained what tor was, that i had no
idea who posted it, what was posted, or how to find out who they were. case
closed.

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adbge
The movie industry should spend less time on frivolous lawsuits and instead
focus on creating a product that people will buy. Piracy is just a convenient
scapegoat: it's easier to blame pirates than to admit you did something wrong.

~~~
froo
In a lot of cases, people already value the product, the issue is with
distribution and being able to get their hands on it in a convenient fashion.

There was a recent (albeit not conclusive) study done of 7000 pirates here in
Australia which concluded that a majority of people would pay for content if
it was made available.

[http://www.news.com.au/technology/download-
culture/internet-...](http://www.news.com.au/technology/download-
culture/internet-pirates-say-theyd-pay-for-legal-downloads/story-
fn58oolp-1225863187697)

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pmccool
Assuming this legal action succeeds, what's to stop it becoming business as
usual?

If it does become business as usual, it's highly unlikely that the makers of
low-volume films - who seem to be the ones starting it all off - will be the
major beneficiaries...

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cullenking
The biggest thing I took from this article was in reading the comments: the
site auto-refreshes!!! People are typing in a comment and BAM the site reloads
and they lose their comment. Talk about a shitty design decision....

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bryanh
I have a hard time seeing this being followed through with. Are they going to
personally sue 10k people? I would guess that they just want a few hundred
people to settle for a couple thousand dollars and call it a day.

~~~
anigbrowl
If they get victory in a test case (IP address + BitTorrent tracker records +
hurtlocker.zip = piracy), they can move for summary judgment against other
infringers on the same basis.

~~~
bryanh
Interesting.

