CHICAS PRODUCTIONS: MPAA

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. It was once so rich that Concorde used to fly from Caracas to Paris. But in the last three years its economy has collapsed. Hunger has gripped the nation for years. Now, it’s killing people and animals that are dying of starvation. The Venezuelan government knows, but won’t admit it!!! Four in five Venezuelans live in poverty. People queue for hours to buy food. Much of the time they go without. People are also dying from a lack of medicines. Inflation is at 82,766% and there are warnings it could exceed one million per cent by the end of this year. Venezuelans are trying to get out. The UN says 2.3 million people have fled the country - 7% of the population.

Showing posts with label MPAA. Show all posts

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Hollywood Backs Antipiracy Curriculum for Elementary Schools...

When it comes to learning about the evils of Internet piracy, Hollywood studios and the major music labels want kids to start young.

A nonprofit group called the Center for Copyright Information has commissioned a school curriculum to teach elementary-age children about the value of copyrights.

The Los Angeles Times reports the nonprofit is backed by the MPAA, the RIAA and others.
The curriculum, still in draft stage, includes lesson plans, videos and activities for teachers and parents to help educate students about the "importance of being creative and protecting creativity."

Some critics say the curriculum would promote a biased agenda. Others contend it would use up valuable classroom time when public schools are already struggling to teach the basics.

Thank you Variety

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Rep. Cardenas, others protest higher fees for filming on public lands ...

A plan to double film permit fees on public lands has produced a rare moment of bipartisanship in Washington.

Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles) joined more than 50 other representatives from both sides of the aisle this week, sending a letter to the U.S. Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture requesting that fees for filming on public lands not be increased.

The departments, squeezed by budget cuts, are considering a plan that would double filming fees.

Cardenas and a bipartisan group of representatives contend the higher fees would drive more production out of the country.

They wrote to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, saying that although "there is no question that filmmakers understand the need to pay their fair share to use our public resources, we are concerned that the proposed increase will further facilitate film production outside the United States."

"This is a very simple request that our government treat these American businesses fairly," Cardenas said. "Our cities and municipalities are struggling to maintain revenue as it is. Our government agencies should not push filmmakers away from home, hurting jobs and our economy."

On average, a major motion picture spends more than $225,000 each day "on location," benefiting small businesses in the filming area, the legislators said.

Chris Dodd, chief executive of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, added: "The MPAA has long supported the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture's ability to collect reasonable fees for filming on public lands to ensure that taxpayers are never burdened. The proposed increase, however, would discourage the very filming that is bringing the parks revenue."

Thank you Los Angeles Times

Web piracy: Sites in Russia, China, Ukraine, Canada top MPAA list...

Websites registered in China, Russia, Ukraine and Canada continue to dominate the list of "most notorious" markets for distributing pirated movies and TV shows, an industry report shows.

The survey, compiled by the Motion Picture Assn. of America at the request of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, ranked websites and other technologies used to distribute illegal copies of movies and TV show based on how much web traffic they generated, among other indicators.

The MPAA list includes peer-to-peer networks, Bit Torrent portals, infringing download and streaming hubs, linking websites and newsgroups, as well as physical markets located in the Ukraine, Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Ireland, Brazil, Russia, Thailand, Mexico and India.

PHOTOS: Billion-dollar movie club

"The rogue overseas marketplaces highlighted in the filing undermine the people who work hard to create the movies and TV shows audiences love, and jeopardize the billions of dollars they contribute to the U.S. economy," Chris Dodd, chairman of the MPAA said in a statement. "The MPAA commends the USTR's commitment to protect and enforce intellectual property rights abroad and, in so doing, protect U.S. jobs."

Among the top sites identified in the survey were: Extratorrent.com in the Ukraine, which had 16.1 million unique visitors in August, including features highlighting "the most pirate movies" and "first cams," which are camcordings of movies showing in theaters; and Russia-based Rutracker.org, a BitTorrent portal launched in 2010 that is one of the world's most visited sites, with 11.7 million unique visitors in August.

Also on the list were two sites from Canada: Kickass.to, which changed names after U.S. authorities seized its previous domain; and Torrentz.eu, one of the most popular BitTorrent websites on the Internet, which had 45.5 million visitors in August.

China also two websites on the list: Xunlei.com, which features a high speed file sharing system that distributes unauthorized copies of movies and TV shows; and QVOD, or Kuaibo.com, widely used by Chinese rogues linking sites.

"The criminals who profit from the most notorious markets through the world threaten the very heart of our industry and in doing so threaten the livelihoods of the people who give it life," wrote the MPAA's Michael O'Leary, the report's author. "These markets are an immediate threat to legitimate commerce, impairing legitimate markets' viability and curbing U.S. competitiveness."

Thank you Los Angeles Times

Study Suggests Studios Aren’t Offering Enough Online Legal Options to Counter Mo

Adding to a growing body of competing data on who bears the blame for rampant online infringement, two George Mason U scholars unveiled a website that claims that few of the most pirated movies are even available online legally.

Shorter windows would help counter piracy, the authors say, though theater owners are unlikely to agree with changing windows substantially in the near future.

The site — piracydata.org — shows that of the top 10 most pirated movies in the past week, none are available for streaming, three were available for digital rental and six were available for digital purchase. The authors of the study, Jerry Brito and Eli Dourado from GMU's Mercatus Center and developer Matt Sherman, relied on data from TorrentFreak and Can I Stream It. The top pirated movie, "Pacific Rim," was available only for digital purchase, their study showed.

The study showed that over the past three weeks, 53% of the most pirated movies have been available legally in some digital form. In the same period, only 25% have been available for rental or streaming, and 0% have been available on a legal streaming service.

Brito said that he decided to do the study after the MPAA unveiled a study several weeks ago showing that search engines like Google lead users to infringing movies and TV shows. At a congressional hearing, Cary Sherman, chairman and CEO of the Recording Industry Assn. of America, urged more voluntary agreements between search engines and the content industry to try to curb piracy.

Brito wrote in a blog post that "while there is no way to draw causality between the fact that these movies are not available legally and that they are the most pirated, it does highlight that while the MPAA is asking Google to take voluntary action to change search results, it may well be within the movie studio's power to change those results by taking voluntary action themselves. That is, they could make more movies available online and sooner, perhaps by collapsing the theatrical release window."

Yet the MPAA challenged some of the figures as well as the premise, pointing out the availability of movies like "This Is the End" on Vudu, Google Play, Sony Entertainment Network, iTunes and Amazon. The Piracydata.org figure was corrected, but it also lists "Pacific Rim" for digital purchase but not rental or streaming. Yet it is available on YouTube movies which, depending on how you look at it, is a streaming service as well as a digital rental and purchase service.

"More than half of the films they cite are in fact available to stream or download, including films they claim are not," said an MPAA spokeswoman. "And if a film is not available for stream or purchase at a given moment, it still does not justify stealing it from the creators and makers who worked hard to make it."

The MPAA offers its own tool to find legal movie options online, wheretowatch.org, but it is not a search tool for titles, but simply a listing of online providers like iTunes, Vudu and Amazon.

The movie "Elysium" is not going to be made available on iTunes until late November, according to the site, and on Blu-ray and Ultraviolet in December. But it was available for illegal streaming shortly after its August release, yet studios risk the ire of theater owners if they offer legal downloads of movies during their runs at the multiplex.

Britto acknowledged first-day glitches on his site in a lengthy blog post, and noted that data is being updated as movies become available.

"One thing is for certain: the dataset that we are proposing to build is important," he wrote. "We have provoked quite a reaction from people on both sides of this issue. We acknowledge that it has been a bumpy launch for our site, but we are committed to getting it right."

The site, glitches or not, is another instance of the back-and-forth between the content and tech policy communities in Washington over who is responsible for online infringement. A few weeks ago, the MPAA unveiled a study showing that search engines like Google play a major role in introducing audiences to pirated content via their search results. Yet Google and the trade group the Internet Assn. have for some time said that the greater availability of legal online alternatives will alleviate problems with piracy. That seems to be the premise behind the Piracydata.org site. Google provides support to the Mercatus Center.

The MPAA has promoted the availability of more movie and TV content online, but it also suggests that that alone won't solve the problems with piracy. The org noted that "The Walking Dead" was pirated 500,000 times within 16 hours despite the fact that it was available to stream for free over the next 27 days on AMC's website and distributed in 125 countries around the world after it aired.

"Our industry is working hard to bring content to audiences when they want it, where they want it, but content theft is a complex problem that requires comprehensive voluntary solutions from all stakeholders involved," the MPAA spokeswoman said.

Thank you Variety

MPAA’s Chris Dodd Calls for California to Expand Tax Credits to Lure Big Budget

Speaking on Friday to a San Fernando Valley business group, MPAA chairman Chris Dodd called for an expansion of California's production tax incentive program to include big-budget films, noting that the state has lost out to others on projects like the sequels to "Man of Steel" and "The Amazing Spider-Man."

California's incentive program, adopted in 2009, provides $100 million per year for film and TV productions, but movies with budgets above $75 million are not eligible. The intent was to prevent only a handful of movies from depleting the annual outlay, but Dodd said that the result has been a dearth of big-budget tentpoles shooting in the Los Angeles region.

It should be no surprise, then, that "11 of this year's 12 biggest blockbusters were filmed in states like Louisiana and New Mexico instead of California," Dodd said, according to his prepared remarks to the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. "And this trend is only going to continue."

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2″ shot in New York, and the sequel to "Man of Steel" will shoot in Michigan, he noted.

The MPAA actually advocates for incentives nationwide, and the industry's lobbying org, in seeking congressional support, has often promoted the fact that so many states benefit from production jobs.

Dodd said his "job at the Motion Picture Association is to advocate on behalf of my studios, not the locations of their productions, but I know the studios I represent would prefer, everything else being equal, to make their films and television programs here in California, for many reasons."

He warned that with other states offering incentives, "It does not take long for those states and countries to attract and train talented local people to do the work that historically could only be found here and a few other places."

Dodd also called for a California incentive program that will make it possible for long-term productions, like TV series, to budget well into the future. The state program was renewed last year until 2015, even after advocates called for a longer-term extension.

Critics of incentive programs have called it a "race to the bottom" and have challenged some claims of job growth when productions shoot at a location. And while Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has put runaway production on his priority list, with a plan to lobby state lawmakers to expand the California program, he will have to convince them to do so against many competing interests.

Critics of expanding the incentives, however, have questioned the urgency given that NBCUniversal, Disney and Paramount each have plans to expand their production facilities in Southern California. Indeed, Dodd said that the "film industry is not suddenly folding its tent and moving elsewhere." He said that the expansion plans indicate that the industry "is betting on California's future as well." But he said that "more needs to be done to keep this industry from slowly slipping away."

Dodd also called on Google to do more to fight piracy, citing a study funded by the entertainment industry showing that 74% of consumers surveyed cited using search engines to discover or navigate to infringing sites in their initial effort to download a movie or TV show.

"These search engines have the ability to stop directing audiences to sites with illegitimate content, and I am still hopeful that we can work with them in the coming days to find ways to make this happen," Dodd said.

Thank you Variety

Entertainment unions, groups hail state film tax credit extension...

A broad coalition of unions representing the entertainment industry hailed Governor Jerry Brown's decision to sign into law a two-year extension of California's film and television tax credit.

"We commend the legislature and Gov. Brown for recognizing that the motion picture business is an integral part of the economic and cultural powerhouse that has been California during the last 100 years," said a statement issued by a coalition of entertainment industry unions, including the Directors Guild of America, the Teamsters, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and SAG-AFTRA.

Brown approved legislation that was overwhelmingly supported by the state Assembly and the Senate. The bills provide $200 million for the state film tax credit, extending funding through 2017.

California offers a 20% to 25% credit toward qualified production costs, which employers can use to offset any business tax liability they have with the state.

Although the program is limited and not as competitive compared with what some other states offer, the bills were widely supported in the entertainment industry as a means of slowing the exodus of film and television production from California.

While the bills were expected to be approved, their support from the governor was not assured given the competition for scarce government resources. Backers originally pressed for a five year-extension, but that goal proved unrealistic.

"Unlike most other industries, ours is a highly mobile one -- film and television production can be shot anywhere," the coalition said in its statement. "Because of that reality, thousands of our members who live in California and want to work in California are dependent upon this state remaining competitive. We know firsthand that this program has created employment opportunities for them, and with that, health and pension coverage for them and their families."

The Motion Picture Assn. of America, which lobbies on behalf of the major studios, also praised the bills' passage.

"The state of California took a big step forward today, thanks to Gov. Brown and the legislature," said MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd. "The two-year extension of the state's production tax credit will keep California competitive for tens of thousands of production-related jobs. This is an important victory for California's economy, our national economy, and the hardworking men and women who comprise the film and television industry."

Thank you Los Angeles Times

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MPAA's Chris Dodd extends olive branch to Silicon Valley...

Chris Dodd, Hollywood's chief lobbyist, extended an olive branch to Silicon Valley.

Eager to put to rest a bruising battle with Google and other tech companies over ill-fated anti-piracy bills this year, Dodd stressed common ground between California's two signature industries in a speech Tuesday at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco.

"What I don't want to do is relive the SOPA debate -- and I hope you don't either,'' Dodd said, alluding to the Stop Online Piracy Act that sparked an unprecedented online protest led by Google, Wikipedia and other tech giants. They saw the bill as threat to the Internet.

"Issues surrounding piracy and how we protect the hard work of many thousands of American creators and makers in movies and television are important though, and worth talking about together without heated rhetoric and raised voices. And I accept my share of responsibility for some of that in the past."

Dodd even praised Google for recent steps to curb online piracy and touted common interests shared with Hollywood.

He cited the joint initiative known as UltraViolet, an effort by dozens of content and tech companies to allow customers to purchase and acquire content in one form and then have the ability to watch it on any of their devices.

"We share a belief in innovation,'' Dodd said. "We call them audiences, you call them users, but giving them the best possible experience is a shared goal. In the end, we all report to the same people."

Thank you Los Angeles Times

Film industry protests $20,000 fee for filming at Grand Avenue Park...

If you want to film at the Grand Avenue Park, it will cost you -- $20,000 a day in a fact.

That's how much county officials plan to charge filmmakers to shoot at the new park, much to the chagrin of local film industry officials.

County officials said they developed the fee based on what other landmark parks around the country charge. But critics in the film industry noted that the fee is well above what Los Angeles County charges at most other local parks for filming, which is typically $450 a day.

Sarah Walsh, director of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, told county supervisors on Tuesday that the fee was prohibitive and would give filmmakers even less incentive to stay in L.A.

"A fee of $20,000 per day for a public location gives filmmakers another reason to choose locations outside of Los Angeles," Walsh told the county Board of Supervisors. "The county can do more to encourage filming and reducing this fee would be a first step."

The message apparently registered. On Tuesday the Board of Supervisors agreed to review all film fees charged at county facilities to ensure that they are reasonable.

"We sometimes continue to be our own worst enemy,'' said county Supervisor Don Knabe, who introduced the motion to review the fees. "I do not believe charging excessive fees should be used to stop filming."

Thank you Los Angeles Times

Google Search to Start Targeting Copyright Violators...

Article from Aug 2012

The new policy, meant to promote high-quality media sources on the web, won't banish sites like torrenthound.com entirely -- but they will turn up much lower in results.

In a bid to steer Internet users to higher-quality video, audio, images and text on the web, Google beginning next week will push links that most likely contain content that violates copyrights lower in search results.

The effort should thrill the creators of TV shows, movies and music that have long complained of Internet pirates who illegally post their content on websites they have no control over and, therefore, earn no money from.

Google said in a blog post Friday that sites receiving a large number of valid copyright removal notices will continue to be listed during a search, though much lower on the results page.

An example of some of the sites that could be negatively impacted by Google's new policy are filestube.com, extratorrent.com, torrenthound.com, bitsnoop.com and isohunt.com.

The new "signal," the latest of more than 200 already used in Google search algorithms, will apply to all of the sites the Google index touches, which amounts to an estimated 30 trillion unique URLs.

"The ranking change," senior vp engineering Amit Singhal blogged, "should help users find legitimate, quality sources of content more easily -- whether it's a song previewed on NPR's music website, a TV show on Hulu or new music streamed from Spotify."

In a statement, the MPAA cautiously applauded the move.

"We are optimistic that Google's actions will help steer consumers to the myriad legitimate ways for them to access movies and TV shows online, and away from the rogue cyberlockers, peer-to-peer sites, and other outlaw enterprises that steal the hard work of creators across the globe. We will be watching this development closely – the devil is always in the details – and look forward to Google taking further steps to ensure that its services favor legitimate businesses and creators, not thieves."

The RIAA on Friday called the new policy "a potentially significant change" that it has been "urging Google to take for a long time."

"Google has signaled a new willingness to value the rights of creators," the RIAA said in a press release. "That is good news indeed. And the online marketplace for the hundreds of licensed digital services embraced by the music business is better today than it was yesterday."

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

Tax incentives face scrutiny...

Tax incentives face scrutiny
Breaks to be extended, but climate cools
By TED JOHNSON

As California Gov. Jerry Brown grapples with a beleaguered California budget, he is still expected to extend the state's production incentives.

Production tax breaks, which have bloomed across the country over the past decade, have shown surprising resiliency in the face of state budget cuts. In California, which some observers says is on the brink of bankruptcy, Gov. Jerry Brown is set to extend the state's $200 million in production tax incentives.

But the question is, what happens next? This year's presidential campaign has been tinged with talk of tax reform and, if there is a genuine drive in this direction on the part of Washington as it grapples with the so-called "fiscal cliff" later this year, it is not too much of a stretch to think that talk of reform could extend to other levels of government, including the 38 states that have some form of production sweeteners.

Pressuring states against further incentives are two orgs on opposite ends of the spectrum, the left-leaning Center on Budget & Policy Priorities and the right-leaning Tax Foundation, which have for several years challenged the benefits as little more than giveaways that don't return lasting jobs.

"When it comes to film credits, it is better to receive than to give," says Jon Shure, director of state fiscal strategies for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The MPAA, meanwhile, has countered with its own reports and research, and characterizes the tax orgs' premises as misleading. It points to states like Michigan, which, after having scaled back its incentives significantly, restored $25 million to the program for fiscal year 2013. Even in Iowa, where a criminal investigation surrounding abuses of incentives ensued, there is some talk of re-starting a program in limited form.

Incentive programs grew over the past decade, often because states without tax credits feared that they would lose out on productions.

Yet some of the strongest advocates of credits say that more state film offices face a growing burden of transparency -- to show where jobs are being created, or whether money is being spent in-state, as a way of ensuring that the benefits aren't being enjoyed elsewhere.

Earlier this year, Ernst & Young released a study commissioned by the MPAA that was, not surprisingly, generally supportive of the idea of incentives. But it also cautioned that programs shouldn't be measured just by how much state and local government coffers recoup, but rather via a host of other factors that boost the private sector.

The Ernst & Young research states: "If a film is successful in generating tourism, the economic and fiscal impacts can be substantial. For example, if a successful $10 million film production induces 100,000 visitors to a state over several years, these visitors would spendmately $34 million during their visits on lodging, meals, entertainment and other purchases. In a typical state, this spending would create 310 direct and indirect jobs and $1.2 million of additional state and local taxes."

The tax orgs question the assumptions of a ripple effect from Hollywood production. But no matter whose statistics are more correct, it's hard to imagine that more indiscretions like the one in Iowa, in which production money ended up helping to buy a filmmaker's Land Rover, will be tolerated at a time when the issue of fiscal reform may soon hit the front burner.

MTV's "Jersey Shore" once again put New Jersey on the map, but last year, Gov. Chris Christie blocked nearly a half-million dollars in production tax credits, perhaps seeing the political danger of the words "Snooki" and "snookered" in the same headline.

Thank you Variety

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Hollywood Studios Reach Deal With China's Taobao on Anti-Piracy Efforts...

The Chinese e-commerce giant pledges more aggressive action to curtail counterfeits.

The Motion Picture Association has announced that it has reached a memorandum of understanding with Chinese's largest e-commerce company Taobao to deal with counterfeit and copyright infringing works on the site.

Last year, Taobao appeared on the United States Trade Representative's notorious markets list. Taobao is operated as a unit of the Alibaba Group, which engaged China's Ministry of Commerce to protest the appearance.

Since then, the Chinese company has been negotiating with the MPA, the international counterpart to the MPAA, whose members include Fox, Sony, Disney, and Warner Bros.

STORY: MPAA's Dodd Praises GOP Platform for Protecting Copyrights [4]

The parties have now signed off on a pact.

According to the MPA, Taobao will work with Hollywood studios to identify and remove listings of counterfeits and work with law enforcement to pursue serial offenders. The agreement further calls for shops on Taobao.com to hold a valid "publication license."

Mike Ellis, president and managing director, MPA Asia Pacific, calls the memorandum of understanding a "very significant step in promoting the legitimate sale and distribution of audio-visual content on the Internet. We are very confident of seeing positive and immediate results arising from this initiative.

Taobao holds as much as 70 percent of China's e-commerce marketshare, according to Reuters.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

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How Hollywood Convinced California's Senate to Pass a Bill Increasing Piracy Dam

An obscure case last year challenged the value of damages from piracy. Now, California law on calculating restitution could be on the verge of changing what pirates owe.

Statistics about the economic damage from piracy tend to be controversial because of a dispute about methodology. When calculating the loss to an entertainment company from someone who pirates a song or movie, do you assume the pirate would have purchased that song or movie at full wholesale price? The difference between "Yes" and "No" amounts to billions of dollars in estimated damages for Hollywood each year.
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The problem is not merely academic. Those who are arrested for piracy, and then convicted, often have to pay restitution. If a jury orders them to pay actual damages as restitution for harm, what do they pay? The question led to a decision last year by a California appellate court that the industry hated, and now a possible change in state law.
On Thursday, somewhat underneath the radar, the California Senate passed SB-1479 by a 36-0 margin with four state senators not voting. The bill would amend state law pertaining to how victims of crime who incur economic loss as a result of a crime receive restitution from a defendant.
Among the changes is that now, when someone is convicted of a crime involving the infringement of a "phonograph record, disc, wire, tape, film, or other device or article from which sounds or visual images are derived," restitution will be calculated "based on the aggregate wholesale value." This includes unreleased works, and according to the bill, "Proof of the specific wholesale value of each nonconforming device or article is not required."
In March, the RIAA provided some support for the changes, and specifically pointed to the case, People v. Garcia, decided last year by a California appellate circuit which it said had "dramatically changed the landscape."
In the case, Hector Garcia and Martin Avila were arrested and convicted for intending to sell thousands of pirated DVDs and counterfeit music CDs.
At the trial, the RIAA provided a wholesale value for approximately 4,000 seized CDs of $7.15 each. The MPAA testified that that more than 10,000 confiscated DVDs were worth an average wholesale value of $11.10 each.
As a result, the defendants were ordered to pay more than $61,000 to the RIAA and nearly $174,000 to the MPAA for a total just north of $235,000.
But last April, those restitution fines were knocked out by California appeals judge Roger Boren, who ordered the total award be trimmed to $87,113. According to the decision, "assigning the aggregate wholesale value as the loss where there is none violates the intent of the victim restitution statute."
The appellate judge took a look at the statutory language, debate, and interpretation over how to award restitution for "potential losses." The appellate court completely rejected the industry's theories on how to calculate this.
The judge notes that in passing the original law, the RIAA submitted a "victim-impact statement" that estimated that it was losing $5.33 billion per year. But the judge also notes a comment made by lawmakers in drafting the legislation at committee:
"Industry representatives have argued that a music or audio-visual pirates' unsold inventory of illegally produced or copied works represents a lost wholesale sale. This appears to ignore that a pirate would never obtain pirated works from a legitimate wholesaler. Only legitimate retail sales were preceded by a legitimate wholesale sale. Any illicit work sold at the retail or street level never went through the legitimate wholesale market."
The judge took this as evidence that "clearly shows that the RIAA's rationale was rejected" during the drafting of the legislation.
After the decision, the entertainment trade associations appear to have gone back to lawmakers to get the state to accept their calculations on damage from piracy and to overturn the precedent from last year's appellate decision. The bill has now passed the Senate and is closer to becoming law.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter

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Euro Data Protection Group Attacks ACTA...

The independent authority warns that the multinational anti-piracy treaty could violate human rights and European law.

COLOGNE, Germany - An independent advisory group has warned that ACTA, the multinational anti-piracy treaty which the European Parliament is set to vote into law later this year, could violate European laws protecting privacy and human rights.

MPAA Chief Christopher Dodd Says SOPA Debate Isn't Over, Defends Hosting Harvey Weinstein Even as He Attacked Over 'Bully'
The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), an independent authority that advises European bodies on data protection issues, said that the treaty, as written, is too vague and could result in the violation of individual rights if passed unchanged.
ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a multinational treaty that aims to create a new global governing body to regulate and enforce copyright laws. The agreement has been signed by the U.S., Canada, Japan, Australia and South Korea, among others, and was unanimously approved by the countries of the European Union in January this year.
But in an opinion published this week, the EDPS said ratifying ACTA could open the doors to indiscriminate or widespread monitoring of users' Internet behavior and electronic communications which could violate Europe's charter of fundamental rights.
In particular, the group said ACTA does not clearly define what behavior would be criminalized under the treaty and who would be tasked with enforcing it. EDPS warned that if the treaty was interpreted too widely, it could criminalize private, non-profit data sharing in a way that could violate freedom of speech and information laws. It also expressed concern that vague language in the treaty meant that non-judicial bodies could potentially carry out widespread, indiscriminate sweeps of Internet traffic, fishing for suspicious behavior.
"While more international cooperation is needed for the enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) rights, the means envisaged must not come at the expense of the fundamental rights of individuals," said Giovanni Buttarelli, an assistant at the EDPS. "A right balance between the fight against IP infringements and the rights to privacy and data protection must be respected. It appears that ACTA has not been fully successful in this respect."
If the European Parliament votes to approve ACTA, the treaty will still have to be ratified by individual European countries before coming into force.
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Hollywood Pushes California Legislature For Filming Incentive Extension..

Lobbyists, including the Motion Picture Association of America, look to extend a $500-million tax credit to keep TV and film production in the state.
A coalition of Hollywood unions, moguls and lobbying groups are pushing the California state legislature to extend a five-year, $500-million tax credit to promote filming of TV shows and movies in the state. But the measure is getting push-back from some who feel the benefit to the entertainment industry is coming at the expense of college students, the sick and the poor, all of whom have seen government services cut as California faces a budget crunch.

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Q&A: Meet New MPAA Chief Chris Dodd
The Los Angeles Times reports that the tax credit, which was originally passed in 2009 under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, offers a rebate of up to 25 percent of qualified production expenses. The money goes to sales or business-use taxes, but isn't used to pay actor salaries.
The program was originally supposed to run through 2014, but $400 million in rebates have already been distributed. In order to keep the program going through 2012, an extension would be required.
Those opposed to the credit extension cite the hardships already being imposed on the state's education system as a reason not to devote further resources to the entertainment industry. The continuing economic difficulties across the country have led at least five states to end or suspend their filming incentive programs over the last two years.
Those in favor of the extension point to a study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. that found $3.8 billion had been added to the state economy, as well as 20,000 jobs, because of the tax credit. However, some question the reliability of the study, which was sponsored by Motion Picture Association of America.
The full extension has passed the Assembly, but the Senate has limited it to one year, provided the state reaches revenue targets through the rest of 2011. Those behind the extension may wait until the Legislature reconvenes in January to push for the full five-year extension.

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Zediva to Appeal Hollywood Injunction to Ninth Circuit...

Zediva, the online movie streaming service that made waves earlier this year by "renting" recently-released movies to customers, has officially provided notice that it is going to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with hopes of overturning a preliminary injunction that suspended its operations.

In August, Hollywood studios successfully obtained that injunction by arguing that Zediva's service constituted an illegal public exhibition of its copyrighted material.

Zediva countered that it was engaged in private exhibitions of movies merely intended to offer the public a more convenient way to view them. Zediva allowed its customers to rent both DVDs and DVD players from afar and remotely control each over the Internet, arguing the method of delivery was similar to putting a "longer cable" between a DVD player and individual viewers.
California federal judge John F. Walter rejected that view. In his order, the judge agreed with the studios that Zediva needs the permission of copyright holders to operate its service.
The company is now reaching for a higher authority to determine whether its service is consistent with US copyright law. On Wednesday, Zediva provided notice that it was appealing.
Meanwhile, the MPAA is still looking to spread news about its success.

On Thursday, attorneys for the movie studio asked Judge Walter to consider publishing his injunction order in the Federal Register so that other judges around the nation currently overseeing Internet copyright cases would have the benefit of seeing what they believe to be an astute analysis of the "transmit" clause in the Copyright Act and what it means for Internet streaming transmissions to be "to the public" under the clause. The plaintiffs also say they would be more than happy to submit the judge's opinion on his behalf to the Westlaw database.
Meanwhile, Zediva has really suspended shop, telling customers on its website that the company is "having to lay off our DVD-changing monkeys."

Those monkeys were unavailable for comment. At least one is thinking about filing a wrongful termination action. A few are planning a rebellion against their evil human overlords. The others are busy on typewriters reproducing that long-rumored Shakespeare sonnet.

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Hollywood Studios Win Injunction Against Zediva...

A federal judge has granted the MPAA a preliminary injunction against Zediva, a service that touts itself as a DVD rental service but the movie industry saw as being engaged in illegal online streaming.
Zediva quickly became popular earlier this year by cutting through the kind of red tape that has prevents outlets like Netflix and Amazon from offering newer films. The company rents its users a DVD player and a DVD, and customers use their computers like remote controls, playing a movie from afar
The business of Zediva depends on a controversial interpretation of copyright law.
Instead of getting explicit licenses from Hollywood studios to offer movie streaming to the public, the company believes it is merely "renting" DVDs for private exhibition.
In April, the movie industry sued and challenged this interpretation, believing that Zediva was offering an unauthorized public video-on-demand service.
On Monday, California federal judge John F. Walter granted the MPAA a preliminary injunction and just as importantly, has sided with the MPAA on the public vs. private debate. The judge cites case law and old reports by the House of Representatives at the time of the adoption of relevant copyright statutes to come to his conclusion that Zediva transmits publicly instead of renting privately.
The judge concludes, "In this case, Defendants are violating Plaintiffs' exclusive right to publicly perform their Copyrighted Works by transmitting those Copyrighted Works to the public over the internet, without a license or Plaintiffs' permission, through the use of Defendants' Zediva service."
The parties now have a week to agree on an injunction that will be consistent with the judge's order before the case continues.
The MPAA is cheering the development of having gotten the judge to accept its interpretations of copyright law.
"Judge Walter's decision is a great victory for the more than two million American men and women whose livelihoods depend on a thriving film and television industry," says Dan Robbins, senior vp and associate general counsel for the MPAA in a statement.
Meanwhile, Zediva says it intends to continue fighting.
"Today's ruling represents a setback for the hundreds of thousands of consumers looking for an alternative to Hollywood-controlled online movie services," says Zediva a statement. "Zediva intends to appeal, and will keep fighting for consumers' right to watch a DVD they've rented, whether that rental is at the corner store or by mail or over the Internet."

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U.K. Government Drops Website Blocking Plan...

Business secretary Vince Cable announced the change following a review of the policy by telecoms regulator Ofcom.

LONDON -- Plans to block websites that host copyright infringing material are to be abandoned by the government, according to the BBC.

MPAA Wins U.K. Court Case Against File-Sharing Site
Business secretary Vince Cable announced the change following a review of the policy by telecoms regulator Ofcom.
Website blocking was one of the key provisions contained in the Digital Economy Act.
Internet Service Providers had objected to the idea that copyright owners could compel them to cut off some sites.
In the past week, the Motion Picture Association - a group representing film studios - successfully applied for a court injunction requiring BT to block access to an infringing website called Newzbin2.
The action was taken without using the Digital Economy Act, prompting some observers to question the need for the legislation.
Speaking to the BBC, Vince Cable appeared to suggest that the Newzbin2 case had opened up other legal avenues.
"We've discovered that the drafting of the original laws, which took place a year or so ago, were not tight.
"There are test cases being fought in the courts, so we're looking at other ways of achieving the same objective, the blocking objective to protect intellectual property in those cases, but in a way that's legally sound."
The government's decision to drop the DEA's blocking provision was criticized by UK Music, the body which represents musicians and record labels in the U.K.
Its chief executive, Fergal Sharkey said: "Who wants to tell the 80% of music businesses that employ fewer than five people, and the thousands of artists who self-finance the production of their own albums, that to enjoy the protection of the law, all they need now is to have millions of pounds and spend years in court to protect their work."
Mr Cable also announced a raft of measures intended to update the U.K.'s copyright laws.
The changes are based on the Hargreaves Review which was set up to examine current legislation's fitness for purpose in the digital age.
One of the most significant recommendations that the government plans to implement is the legalization of "format shifting" - where users rip content from CDs or DVDs for their own personal use.
"We are talking about big changes," said Mr Cable.
"Bringing the laws more up-to-date to have a proper balance which allows consumers and businesses to operate more freely, but at the same time protect genuinely creative artists and penalize pirates."
The business secretary said the economy would benefit by £8 billion ($13.12 billion) over the next few years by updating the legislation.

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Sunday, November 17, 2013

Hollywood Backs Antipiracy Curriculum for Elementary Schools...

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Rep. Cardenas, others protest higher fees for filming on public lands ...

Web piracy: Sites in Russia, China, Ukraine, Canada top MPAA list...

Study Suggests Studios Aren’t Offering Enough Online Legal Options to Counter Mo

MPAA’s Chris Dodd Calls for California to Expand Tax Credits to Lure Big Budget

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Entertainment unions, groups hail state film tax credit extension...

Friday, October 12, 2012

MPAA's Chris Dodd extends olive branch to Silicon Valley...

Film industry protests $20,000 fee for filming at Grand Avenue Park...

Google Search to Start Targeting Copyright Violators...

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Tax incentives face scrutiny...

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Hollywood Studios Reach Deal With China's Taobao on Anti-Piracy Efforts...

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

How Hollywood Convinced California's Senate to Pass a Bill Increasing Piracy Dam

Monday, April 30, 2012

Euro Data Protection Group Attacks ACTA...

Friday, September 9, 2011

Hollywood Pushes California Legislature For Filming Incentive Extension..

Monday, September 5, 2011

Zediva to Appeal Hollywood Injunction to Ninth Circuit...

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Hollywood Studios Win Injunction Against Zediva...

U.K. Government Drops Website Blocking Plan...