CNN/Money 
News > Technology
graphic
Movie studios may sue downloaders
Report says that studios may follow recording company strategy to battle illegal copying of movies.
April 2, 2004: 10:52 AM EST

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The trade group for the major movie studios is considering following the legal path of the record companies by suing people for illegally downloading copyrighted materials, according to a published report.

Such suits were discussed at a closed meeting of the chiefs of the studios that make up the Motion Picture Association of America, according to the trade publication Variety. Soon-to-retire MPAA chief Jack Valenti called the meeting, but would not confirm its details to Variety. He did, however, issue a statement to the paper affirming the studios' right to sue.

"We have long said that we will rule out no options to protect the motion picture industry from the very real and devastating effects of piracy," said his statement.

The Recording Industry Association of America started filing suits in September against individuals it charged were illegally downloading music. It started with 261 suits at that time and has since filed a total of 1,595 U.S. suits and another 247 international lawsuits in Italy, Germany, Denmark and Canada.

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
File sharing
Movies
Justice and Rights

Variety said there was some reluctance to go after fans expressed at the MPAA meeting. It said that Disney, which has been facing severe criticism of management by its shareholders, was the only studio vehemently opposed to the legal crackdown, the paper reported.

Variety said that the industry estimates that piracy -- in the form of dubbed videos or DVDs -- costs the industry $3.5 billion a year worldwide. But downloading of movies is a relatively small part of that, according to the paper. Still, it quotes Valenti as estimating that 400,000 to 600,000 copies of films are traded online every day.  Top of page




  More on TECHNOLOGY
Honda teams up with GM on self-driving cars
The internet industry is suing California over its net neutrality law
Bumble to expand to India with the help of actress Priyanka Chopra
  TODAY'S TOP STORIES
7 things to know before the bell
SoftBank and Toyota want driverless cars to change the world
Aston Martin falls 5% in its London IPO




graphic graphic

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.