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Follow us on twitterWhen 1000% just isn't enough
2nd June 2010 16:29 | by scuzzmonkey
Voltage Pictures — makers of The Hurt Locker and winner of 6 Oscar's including Best Picture and Best Director — today filed a suit against 5000 alleged file shares in the Columbia District Court in Washington D.C.
This approach is, by the MPAA/RIAA's (Motion Picture Association of America/Recording Industry Association of America) own admission, a failed strategy, and is not the way to stop your film from being pirated. 18 months ago the MPAA and RIAA decided to stop suing alleged filesharers (or rather, stop issuing new lawsuits against them) and instead work closer with ISPs. While this is by no means a good solution, it is an improvement on suing single mothers or the recently deceased for everything they are worth (and then some).
The film, which cost only $15 million to produce, has so far grossed $150 million worldwide. Nevertheless, the firm maintains that this mere 1000% return represents "a direct decline" in the film and entertainment industries.
Nicolas Chartier, one of the film's producers and co-founder of Voltage Pictures, went on to prove how out of touch he is with the real world by claiming that anyone that disagrees with him is a "moron". Thus, by extension, he believes that Radiohead, Trent Reznor, Stephen Fry, Michael Moore, the Featured Artists Coalition, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Free Software Foundation, Larry Lassig and the entire Creative Commons movement, the Open Rights Group, the Pirate Parties worldwide, scores of his film's fans, and countless others are all morons.
It is about time somebody told him how it is.
You seem unable to comprehend that you are a remnant of a bygone era — a collection of single minded exploiters that will sue everyone in the name of "protecting the industy". Your kind are unsustainable, and thus are destined to fail. You will fall kicking and screaming into the history books, forever used as a case study on how not to do business.
Nicolas, you are the moron.
[ Scuzzmonkey is an enthusiastic member of the Pirate Party UK's press team ]
3 comments
I already have
