MPAA sues group of eBay sellers over pirated DVDs

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 11 Dec 2002 8:34 User comments (9)

MPAA (Movie Picture Association of America) has sued several American eBay sellers for allegedly selling pirated DVDs through the auction site. Association claims that individuals, from eight different U.S. states, have sold totally over 1,000 pirated DVDs during the last 30 days.

Auction site eBay is not involved with the lawsuit, but according to its spokesperson, it is "delighted" that copyright owners have directly responded to illegal material sales in its service and have not dragged it into the process.

Most of the individuals named in the lawsuit have remained silent in the public, but some of them have come forward to the press and have claimed that they've been merely re-selling DVDs that they've purchased from so-called "eBay Power Sellers" that have claimed that their products are legal and official Asian releases of hit movies, not yet released in the States.

Source: OS Opinion

<Johansen denies charges >QuickTime for cell phones in Japan

9 user comments

111.12.2002 13:06

Dela

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Staff Member

Ah well now, the MPAA had every right for this one!! Usually I'd argue their decisions but these guys must have been makin a fortune.

211.12.2002 16:11

shandy

Inactive

If they were selling copies then I suppose yes they deserve what they get. However if they were selling different region DVDs (asian releases)then (not too sure what the legalities are ) I can't see what harm they are doing. It is after all a global market and if the MPAA are trying to put a strangle hold on the american public then more fool them.

311.12.2002 21:45

A_Klingon

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Moderator

No, this isn't about different region-coded discs, this is about mass-produced, low-quality, bogus, pirated dvds. It's the one thing the MPAA ought to stick to instead of making consumer's lives miserable and pissing everybody off. (Their case against Jon Johansen). -- Mike --

412.12.2002 06:47

Ghostdog

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Senior Member

This is why I don´t buy from big multi-national auction sites. If you get a bad/broken product, there´s no guarantie that you can return it.

512.12.2002 06:50

Dela

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A_Klingon, I'd agree with that. I dont think they have any case against Johansen if he didnt crack it. They should stick to the ppl who make money off piracy

612.12.2002 14:51

A_Klingon

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When you think about it, and just to be totally of the Radar screen for a moment, so what IF Jon had actually been the one sole, cracker? (Or any other one, single, person?) How in god's name could the MPAA "recoup damages" (lost revenues) against *one* freekin' person? They'd have to somehow, theoretically prove how much was actually lost in sales, then they'd have to re-re-re-calculate all over again each and every day, because people are using backup software all over the globe now, using not only DeCSS, but all sorts of other code-cracking software. It's a joke on their part. A big fat sick joke. (Hey! I see you're not using hotmail today!) < your sigline is back > -- A_Handsome_Klingon --

712.12.2002 14:55

Dela

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There would be no chance in a million years that they could calculate that! I am using hotmail but this time I'm copying and pasting the url into the explorer window instead of clicking the hotmail link!

813.3.2005 19:59

nismo_rat

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Newbie

The MPAA is either going to make alot of money suing people, or just give up after awhile. Because you know what? Pirated software, movies, games, any of that will always be around. Just like when Metallica sued napster awhile back. Did that change anything? No. It just made a bunch of Metallica fans turn. "Illegal" media has been, is, and always will be around either right in front of our noses, or floating on black markets...especially on ebay.

916.3.2005 06:54

venomX05

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Well. 1. Selling on Ebay was just plain stupid...like they were asking to get caught. 2. So, MPAA wants to try and recoup their loss, huh? LOL!!! Guess the guy better start get a couple of jobs....because it will NEVER happen. Speaking of which, does anyone know what procedures that follow if say someone gets busted for selling pirated movies...lets say they are order by the court to pay like $25K, would they garnish a paycheck or your tax refund or something? How do they collect these fines?

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MPAA sues group of eBay sellers over pirated DVDs

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