In a significant victory for the major Hollywood studios, a federal judge in Los Angeles has terminated an ongoing lawsuit against the operators of TorrentSpy.com in favor of all six of the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) member companies. TorrentSpy, one of the world’s most notorious pirate websites, blatantly contributes to, profits from and induces massive infringement of copyrighted content including movies, music and games. The court imposed the harshest sanction against the TorrentSpy defendants because of their brazen, continuous, and systematic destruction of evidence and subversion of the judicial process. The ruling means that TorrentSpy operators are liable for copyright infringement.
“The court’s decision is a significant victory for MPAA member companies and sends a potent message to future defendants that this egregious behavior will not be tolerated by the judicial system,” said John Malcolm, Executive Vice President and Director of Worldwide Anti-Piracy Operations for the MPAA. “The court clearly recognized that defendants engaged in evidence destruction because they knew that such evidence would prove damaging to them. The sole purpose of TorrentSpy and sites like it is to facilitate and promote the unlawful dissemination of copyrighted content. TorrentSpy is a one-stop shop for copyright infringement and we will continue to aggressively enforce our members’ rights to stop such infringement.”
SlySoft has released yet another version of its AnyDVD software. According to the change log, this beta supports the copy protections found on some adult titles and can handle discs with menu files bigger than 1GB.
6.3.0.2 2007 12 19
New (DVD): Support for new copy protection found on some adult titles
New (DVD): AnyDVD ripper can now handle discs, which have menu files bigger than 1GB (which is against the specification).
New (DVD): Improved performance of the AI scanner.
Fix (DVD): PS18 error with some discs, e.g. "The Forgotten", R1, US
As the holiday shopping season picks up, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has launched a series of initiatives to offer consumers tips for avoiding pirated music, work with law enforcement to disrupt major distribution chains of counterfeit product in 15 cities with exceptionally high piracy rates, and highlight some of the innovative new legal products to fulfill music lovers’ wish lists.
The RIAA is focusing its efforts in cities where the illegal underground music trade is most prevalent, especially highlighted by a disproportionate decline in legitimate retail sales. These “hot spot” cities include Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, Providence, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco and Tampa. So far this year, RIAA investigations have netted a total of approximately 3.4 million counterfeit CDs and 3,940 arrests during raids on suspected premises where illegal underground operations were taking place throughout these regions.
Working with local law enforcement officials throughout the country, the RIAA continues to focus its attention on major pirate product manufacturers responsible for feeding “pre-release” and newly-released music into illicit retail markets. The organization and its investigators also continue to focus on the retail markets where the illegal products are most frequently sold, such as small vendor establishments and flea markets. According to a recent report by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), the global theft of music cost the U.S. economy $12.5 billion in lost revenue and more than 71,000 jobs and $2 billion in wages to U.S. workers.
The scope of a yearlong download promotion planned between Pepsi and Amazon, Billboard has learned, is among several developments forcing further consideration by Warner Music Group (WMG) and Sony BMG Music Entertainment to follow EMI and Universal Music Group's lead in distributing music in the MP3 format.
News of the Pepsi promotion, which is expected to be announced Feb. 3 during the Super Bowl, coincides with an ultimatum from Wal-Mart asking major labels to supply walmart.com with their music in MP3, sources say. Labels, meanwhile, say they have been watching the success of an MP3 test UMG began in August; the major continues to allow the sale of 85% of its current catalog as MP3s. Sources say UMG is on the verge of permanently embracing that digital format. But a source close to the testing insists the decision is still up in the air while the company awaits conclusive results from the trial, which are due in mid-January.
