LOS
ANGELES (MPAA) - Following its initial filing of John Doe lawsuits
against individuals engaged in illegal
Internet file-swapping, Motion
Picture Association President and CEO Dan Glickman announced today that
the first round of defendants will be named and served Wednesday.
"These
people are
Internet thieves and we will not stand by while they steal
millions of dollars of copyrighted material with no regard for the
law," said Glickman. "With these lawsuits, which reach from Honolulu,
Hawaii to Kokomo,
Indiana our message to these thieves is clear � you
are not anonymous and you will be held responsible: You can click but
you cannot hide."
Additionally, the MPAA today announced several
lawsuits against John Does accused of
Internet theft on college
campuses which is an emerging problem due to the availability of
advanced shared networks like
Internet 2 (i2hub).
"Digital file
sharing is the way of the future and we want to help educate students
about the legal ways to get our products on-line through services like
Ruckus and Cdigix, CinemaNow and Movielink."
Last November,
the MPAA announced that in conjunction with its members and other film
studios, it was expanding its campaign against film piracy. The major
movie studios filed lawsuits against individuals as end-users who have
illegally downloaded or traded movies via the Internet. Since then, a
number of those individuals have been contacted and asked to settle
with the member companies. Those who chose not to settle are now being
named in individual lawsuits filed around the country.*
The
lawsuits and public identification of individual people illegally
downloading and trading movies on-line signal a dramatic escalation in
the motion picture industry's campaign to fight film piracy and raise
awareness about the damaging phenomenon of illegal file-swapping.
A
federal interagency report published in 2004, estimated that
counterfeit and pirated goods, including those of copyrighted works,
cost the American economy $250 billion a year. In response to the
report, the U.S.
Justice Department and other federal counterfeit
goods. Glickman made the announcement today at the American Film
Institute during the Franco-American Anti-Piracy seminar that was held
as a part of the annual City of Angels, City of
Lights Film Festival.
"What
if there were no movies?" Glickman asked the crowd. "Movies are a
source of entertainment and learning about life, love and adventure and
we will not let these thieves take that away from us."
