"Lawsuits are one element of the movie industry's three-pronged attack against piracy. The other two are educating consumers about copyright and offering hassle free low-cost ways to buy and rent movies online". Dan Glickman - president of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).
But amid all their complaints that if you download free online movies the industry will be ruined, it has been revealed that the major studios have been selectively leaking new releases onto the Internet for years to generate an early marketing buzz. It is also known that it is common practise for studio employees to review films on sites such as IMDb (Internet Movie Database) in a favourable light, to artificially boost a movie's rating.
2. Downloading doesn't always infringe copyright
More and more media networks, including the BBC are distributing their content using P2P protocols, while Google and DivX Inc. are working towards making 'Google Video' available on personal media players, allowing consumers to take their video downloads wherever they go.
Internet downloading also provides an audience of millions to independent film-makers. Bert Deivert, co author of 'Film and Video on the Internet: The Top 500 Sites' is quoted as saying, "Marketing has definitely become Website oriented and has shifted the possibilities for small producers to market at almost no cost".
3. Commercial P2P
In an attempt to commercialise P2P file trading, 'Peer Impact' (a paid service created by 'Wurld Media') teamed up with 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers and Universal in 2005. The deal allowed for rental downloads and selective permanent downloads of some of their back catalogue of movies and TV shows including Syriana, Firefly and Babylon Five.
Peter Levinsohn, president of 'Fox Digital Media' has said, "This is another step in our overall strategy to bring the world's premier content to our audience on emerging digital platforms".
With 'Peer Impact' yet to be proven as a hit, 'Wurld Media' was bought out by the Australian 'Roo group' in early 2007.
4. Copyright laws are under scrutiny
The 'IPPR' (Institute for Public Policy Research) has called for copyright laws to be updated, believing that copyright policies have been influenced too much by the music and movie industries. The deputy directory of the IPPR, Dr. Ian Kearns said "it is not their job to decide what rights consumers have, that is the job of the government."
The group is also worried that DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology will damage the ability of public institutions such as libraries to allow full access to digital material.
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