Firm Says MPAA Hurt Reputation

[Delerious]

From LA Times

A City of Industry company Tuesday said the Motion Picture Assn. of America damaged its reputation when it announced this week that the company had been shut down after authorities uncovered pirated DVDs and equipment valued at $30 million.

In a statement, New Century Media denied that it was involved in illegal activity and said it ran a legitimate 16-year-old operation that made DVDs for such established firms as Genius Products Inc.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mpaa22jun22,1,4164367.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Sorry about the long url. Go to latimes.com and search for New Century Media. There's 2 stories - first from the 21st and this one from 22nd.

[BJ_M]

The story you requested is available only to registered members.

[Delerious]

The story you requested is available only to registered members.

I'm not registered. I went to latimes.com and did the search to find the story. I just went to the site and did a search again and got a different url

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mpaa22jun22,1,4164367.story

You might have to do the search to get the story.

[Teutatis]

It is listed here: http://www.boycott-mpaa.com/

along with MPAA's "revised" claims.

[jmikeh]

www.bugmenot.com will sometimes work on those news sites..

[BJ_M]

as well as the value of DVDs that could be produced using the equipment.


THATS a great one .. !!!!


I am worth now 100 billion $$$ , because I MIGHT be able to make that much ...

[BJ_M]

also on the same site:

New Jersey Moves Forward On Plan To Tax Internet Downloads

With local governments whining and complaining about how they're "losing" all sorts of money thanks to their inability to tax VoIP and other new internet-related activity, you know that trouble is brewing. Over in New Jersey, for example, it looks like they're moving forward on a plan to tax plenty of new things -- including internet downloads. If passed, that $0.99 song from iTunes will start costing $1.05 instead, sending it over the "magical" $1 line. It certainly has all the makings of an urban legend, but apparently it's for real this time. New Jersey isn't even being very original. The state of Wisconsin has been considering the same thing. Of course, what's missing from these discussions is any explanation for why the state of New Jersey should be able to collect taxes on something that has absolutely nothing to do with the state.

[sssax2003]

Dude that sucks if they do tax. I just got Vonage Voip. But don't if Tx is on the list to tax.

also on the same site:

New Jersey Moves Forward On Plan To Tax Internet Downloads

With local governments whining and complaining about how they're "losing" all sorts of money thanks to their inability to tax VoIP and other new internet-related activity, you know that trouble is brewing. Over in New Jersey, for example, it looks like they're moving forward on a plan to tax plenty of new things -- including internet downloads. If passed, that $0.99 song from iTunes will start costing $1.05 instead, sending it over the "magical" $1 line. It certainly has all the makings of an urban legend, but apparently it's for real this time. New Jersey isn't even being very original. The state of Wisconsin has been considering the same thing. Of course, what's missing from these discussions is any explanation for why the state of New Jersey should be able to collect taxes on something that has absolutely nothing to do with the state.

[hudsonf]

New Jersey Moves Forward On Plan To Tax Internet Downloads

With local governments whining and complaining about how they're "losing" all sorts of money thanks to their inability to tax VoIP and other new internet-related activity, you know that trouble is brewing. Over in New Jersey, for example, it looks like they're moving forward on a plan to tax plenty of new things -- including internet downloads. If passed, that $0.99 song from iTunes will start costing $1.05 instead, sending it over the "magical" $1 line. It certainly has all the makings of an urban legend, but apparently it's for real this time. New Jersey isn't even being very original. The state of Wisconsin has been considering the same thing. Of course, what's missing from these discussions is any explanation for why the state of New Jersey should be able to collect taxes on something that has absolutely nothing to do with the state.

NJ already taxes VOIP. And the reason for taxing internet downloads is called "Usage Tax". NJ is no longer the Garden State, it,s now the Tax Me State.

[BJ_M]

NJ has the highest property taxes in the USA on average already

[hudsonf]

Thanks to the NJEA and corrupt politicians. Did you know when the governor quit he received a check for $500,000 dollars?





no politics - bjm

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

Back on to topic, if what the company says it's true, ir surely smells like a big lawsuit.

[Nilfennasion]

Yeah, okay, let's tax us all more, thus giving us a higher tax burden (when it is already even more than that the medieval serfs laboured under). That will stop us from trying to get something for nothing.

[BJ_M]

going off topic - again

[SatStorm]

So to get it right, now it seems that if you are an Indie DVD production company and you don't kiss MPAA ass, you became illegal just because you have the equipment that might produce illegal copies of a DVD?

[BJ_M]

it turns out the dvds that they took were not even not legal -- and it was all a big mistake --

[hhhhbk]

i hope this firm sue the mpaa

will make them tread far more carefully when it comes to making accusations in the future :P

[Nilfennasion]

The odds of any company suing the MPAA are minimal. The risk versus gain factor is too lopsided, for one thing. If the suer loses, it barely makes a dent in the MPAA's wallet. If the suer wins, it all takes place behind closed doors, anyway. There is barely an outcome that translates into "MPAA loses".

[BJ_M]

plus it was the police that raided the place and took away some disks .. not the MPAA

[hudsonf]

I heard on the news today theater ticket sales were down again this weekend. Maybe the MPAA should stop spending money on lawsuits and concentrate on making better movies.

[MrMoody]

It's not the crappy movies, they were crappy last year. It's not competition from DVDs, they were around last year too.

I think this proves that individual piracy has less effect on sales than the negative publicity from prosecuting individuals. The movie industry has portrayed itself as a bunch of thugs.

[BJ_M]

I heard on the news today theater ticket sales were down again this weekend. Maybe the MPAA should stop spending money on lawsuits and concentrate on making better movies.

MPAA doesnt make movies ..

[VideoTechMan]

This copyright infringement stuff and lawsuits are really getting out of hand. Really, it is.

VTM

[hudsonf]

MPAA doesnt make movies ..

True, but doesn't the movie studios pay them?

[BJ_M]

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA, originally called the Motion Pictures Producers and Distributors Association) is a non-profit trade association formed to advance the interests of movie studios. Its members consist of seven major studios: the Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros. The organization produces the well-known voluntary film rating system.


The MPAA has sought to protect its members' interests by political lobbying for changes in copyright and criminal law. It seeks to promote digital rights management technologies, which are seen by some as infringing users' rights, and by others as striking the proper balance between consumer wants and artists Rights. The motion-picture equivalent of the RIAA, the MPAA has taken strong steps to try and reduce the number of file-sharing sites online where copyrighted films are made available. In April and May of 2005, signs appeared on the homepages of lokitorrents and elitetorrents (two large bittorrent trackers), stating that each had been taken down due to their encouraging the illegal distribution of copyrighted media.

They are just people doing their jobs, not a bunch of evil zombies - if you want to change their mandate, you have to change their boss - the studios that fund them and dictate their moves ...