German Movie Studio Demands Cash From People It Thinks Shared Its Movies Online
from the and-here-we-go... dept
While the recording industry made the fateful (and self-destructive) decision years back to start suing file sharers directly, the movie industry, for the most part has avoided going down that path (in part after witnessing how badly it failed for the RIAA). The movie industry has been quite active in trying to shut down file sharing systems and sites, but for the most part has avoided accusing home consumers of infringement. It appears that may be changing in Germany. Michael Scott alerts us to the news that a major German movie studio has started sending out threat letters to 500 people (out of a list of 10,000) that it believes shared some of its movies. The letter demands $1,000 per infringing work, or promises a lawsuit. What's unclear is how this list was created, and how accurate (or inaccurate it is). Demanding $1,000 from people without any real proof that they did anything illegal certainly seems to come quite close to the classic definition of extortion. We've see how some have used similar shakedown letters for profit, and it makes you wonder why they're allowed at all.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: file sharing, germany, lawsuits, movies
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Either way, the point is this is Germany. Big effing surprise. Let's just hope they don't decided to go after "infringers" in Poland or it'll be WWIII.
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You HAVE to be kidding me
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Re: You HAVE to be kidding me
you are absolutely right! Strange to compare this with holocaust. Shame on them!!!
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Since no one appears to know why these people were selected, it does seem a bit over the top to immediately associate this matter with "extortion".
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nothing new
Once lawyers learn they can extort money without proof, there is no reason for them not to run amok.
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Nope, just using Godwin's Law before anyone else had the chance.
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this is actually illegal to do in germany
Meanwhile, I plan to start sharing their movies tonight, hopefully I'll be seeding them by tomorrow.
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Coming Soon: "Pulling Teeth From the Comfort of Your Own Home!"
Pulling teeth to get me to the theater already involves a nominal amount of extra work and marketing by the Studios. Now, the illegal practice of pulling gold teeth from corpses without leaving home is just over the top!
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Nazis?
Oh, wait - that does make sense. My interaction with Jews involved episodes such as doing a little satisfying and mutually beneficial business and I had a very nice lunch at Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House in Miami once.
It's the movie studios that engage in the vicious witch hunts.
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Would this startegy work in reverse?
If 5000 people sued the RIAA in small claims court because of emotional distress or some other made up thing, and all the court dates were in the same week, wouldn't that put a massive strain on the RIAA's resources?
I am not sure what you could sue for but if you don't show up for the suit you lose...right?
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