Man Charged With Uploading Simpsons Movie He Filmed With His Mobile Phone

from the and-how-much-damage-did-it-do? dept

Last month, we noted that while the Simpson's Movie was widely available online to be downloaded, it appeared to do little to dampen the enthusiasm for going to the theater, as the movie did amazingly well in the theaters. However, that hasn't stopped the entertainment industry from continuing to freak out. Raymond L writes in to let us know that, down in Australia, a man has been charged with being the first person to upload a copy of the movie for downloads. The entertainment industry makes it sound like this was a huge deal, but neglects to mention the commercial success of the movie, which suggests there weren't many people who used the downloaded version as a substitute for the real thing. Also, the article says that the man used a cameraphone to record the movie, which (if true, it seems hard to believe that he had enough storage to record the whole thing) has to make you wonder about the quality of the movie anyway. So, we appear to have a case where a guy filmed a very bad version of the movie and put it online -- which probably didn't make many people stay away (and, in fact, may have encouraged many people to go to the theater). But, of course, the entertainment industry doesn't want to hear any of that. They just want the guy in court.

Filed Under: cameraphone, copyright, piracy, simpsons