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MPAA plans to appeal the screener decision

9 December 2003 14:13 by Petteri "dRD" Pyyny | 1 comment

MPAA lost the first round in court last week in so-called "screener case", where indie film makers sued the movie industry association over its decision to ban screener tapes and DVDs. Now MPAA has announced that it will appeal the district court's decision.

"From Day 1, the screener policy has been about one thing: preserving the future of our industry for filmmakers of all sizes by curtailing piracy. We know, without dispute, that in the past, screeners have been sources for pirated goods both domestically and overseas. We will appeal because the impact and growing threat of piracy is real and must be addressed wherever it appears," MPAA's boss, Jack Valenti, said in his statement.

Screeners are promotional copies of movies, sent out to critics and people eligible to vote for various movie awards, including the Oscars. After the original decision to ban all the screeners, MPAA made a separate deal with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make the organization, which hands out the Oscars, to be the only organization to receive screeners. This obviously angered various other organizations, including Hollywood Foreign Press Association (which hands out Golden Globe awards) and small film studios, who were afraid that without screeners, their movies wouldn't get any "airtime" with critics, etc.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Permalink to this article

Actor fined over Oscar screener piracy (24 November 2004)

MPAA sets sights on Internet2 traffic (18 November 2004)

Movie Industry to sue file sharers? (3 November 2004)

BAFTA voters to get secure DVD players (31 August 2004)

Warner and Columbia sued actor over leaked screeners (29 January 2004)

FBI investigates Oscar screener leak (19 January 2004)

Indie group wins screener ban battle (6 December 2003)

MPAA sued over DVD screener ban (25 November 2003)

MPAA: No screeners for other than Academy members (17 November 2003)

LA Critics call off their awards in protest (20 October 2003)

Writers Guild opposes screener ban (14 October 2003)

MPAA bans Oscar screeners (1 October 2003)

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GrayArea (Member) 10 December 2003 11:37
Oh yes, let's do clog up the legal system with totally stupid lawsuits and appeals. Well, to be fair, it's not just the MPAA that is doing THAT... You know, steak knives have been known to kill people, and I've heard about people being threated and/or mugged with steak knives. I propose a total ban on steak knives. Who's with me? We mustn't lower ourselves to the level of those we loathe, lest we become loathsome ourselves. [ + quote]