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Netflix joins the Motion Picture Association of America
Netflix announced today that it is joining the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), making it the first internet-based service to join the 97-year-old trade association. The move marks Netflix's intentions to be taken seriously in Hollywood circles, shifting from being just a technology service that hosts other studio's content to a full-blown production company with its own massive distribution platform.
MPAA may let Megaupload users retrieve non-infringing files, does it for the Armed Forces
Megaupload's still immersed in hot water, but there are signs the legal temperature could be cooling... slightly. Don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet though, as a significant portion of that confiscated cache of cloud-stored files remains somewhat indefinitely under lock and key. A minor reprieve may be on the way, however, owing to a much more "sympathetic" MPAA which has asked the court to consider releasing non-illegally obtained content to previous users. And lest your evil eye be trained too heavily upon the Hollywood group behind the shutdown, the association's made it quite clear that, under the site's TOS, users were never guaranteed continued access to uploaded content anyway. The change of heart comes in response to a motion filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on behalf of a member of the U.S. military, petitioning the return of personal, non-IP infringing files. According to the now-defunct site's founder Kim Dotcom, that group of "legitimate" users comprised nearly 16,000 accounts utilized primarily to share photos and video with far away family and friends. Of course, should this retrieval request be granted, a requisite procedure will need to be put in place to filter out copyrighted media -- a system that's sure to pose countless headaches for those involved. Nothing's yet been decided so, for now, the fate of your lost files rests firmly in the court's hands. Such are the perils of the cloud.
Zediva puts the brakes on its streaming service, soothes your fears with monkeys
Zediva fought the law and the law shut it down. The unique DVD rental service, sued by the MPAA and Hollywood studios for running afoul of licensing and distribution agreements, has temporarily closed shop. A statement on the outfit's website optimistically refers to the court-ordered injunction as an "intermission," pointing to a hopeful future resumption of operations, and guaranteeing customers a solution for unused credits. The company's promised to fight back against Judge Walter's decision, and is in the process of appealing the ruling that could see it facing a permanent service blackout. We hope for the sake of its "DVD-changing monkeys" that all parties involved can work this out. Make sure to head past the break for Zediva's full explanation.
Zediva's DVD rental service ordered to close shop, Hollywood pops celebratory bubbly
Zediva's loophole-exploiting DVD rental service has just been dealt a lethal blow by Judge John F. Walter. The recent court-ordered preliminary injunction effectively halts the company's ability to rent its library to users across the internet's great streaming divide. Citing irreparable damages to both the nascent video on demand market and Hollywood's bottom line, the federal judge found Zediva's business in violation of studios' exclusive right to public performance of copyrighted works. The bizarro Netflix alternative had been operating without the normal licensing restrictions required by the industry and despite its claims of imminent ruination, will have to close shop. For its part, the unique startup has vowed to appeal the ruling, but if that doesn't work, at least its creators can watch No Strings Attached ad nauseum.
MPAA sues Zediva for streaming DVDs, no one is surprised
We told you to get through that 10 pack of rentals quickly didn't we? As pretty much anyone could have predicted, the Motion Picture Association of America (in case you've forgotten, that's these guys) doesn't think Zediva has the right to rent access to DVDs for streaming across the internet. Specifically, the MPAA calls Zediva for not being the traditional rental service it claims to be, and claims streaming the output of a DVD player across the internet even to one user amounts to public performance of the movie. There's no response yet from Zediva, but in the meantime armchair lawyers can check out the MPAA's statement in PDF form at the source link.
RealNetworks to stop selling RealDVD, your copyrights are safe -- for now
Remember when RealNetworks said it wasn't giving up on RealDVD, that it would fight the good fight and appeal the August ruling finding its DVD copying application wasn't quite legal. Well, a lot of things can change in five months and now it seems Real is caving in to the inevitable crush of the movie industry, setting the lawsuit filed by the MPAA for $4.5 million and instantly turning existing copies of RealDVD into collectors items. (Hope you kept those boxes in mint condition!) What's next for Real remains to be seen, as the company just spun off Rhapsody to be its own thing, but surely whatever it comes up with will not involve the copying of copyrighted things onto other things.
