The Weinstein’s aren’t going down without a fight, they want a PG-13 rating for their documentary “Bully“. The problem is that the MPAA says the movie deserves the R-Rating it was given and they have no plans to change it. …

The Weinstein Company’s documentary “Bully” has received some very prominent support, as some members of Congress are beginning to speak up about the film needing a PG-13 rating. The MPAA has pretty much already said that they won’t change the …

Shortly after Katy Butler hand delivered a petition with more than 200,000 signatures to the MPAA, asking them to give “Bully” a PG-13 rating, chairman of the Classification and Rating Administration said the MPAA “shares Katy’s goals of shining a …

A little while ago we brought you a story about a petition asking the MPAA to reconsider its R rating of the documentary Bully. The film, which explores the problem of bullying in American schools, narrowly missed receiving the PG-13 …

When the MPAA gave director Lee Hirsch’s documentary Bully an R rating, Harvey Weinstein was angry. Weinstein is co-chairman of The Weinstein Company, which is distributing the film. Bully is a documentary dealing with, as you might guess from the …

It used to be that if you were found to be downloading something off of a P2P network, you were sent a letter demanding that you pay a settlement or go to court. The RIAA found out later that suing …

That headline is a bit reductive as it should end “Why SOPA, PIPA, Bill C-11, OPEN, et al.?” but that’s what the actual article is for, right? One of the main driving points in the entertainment industry’s support of SOPA …

Fan favorite Wil Wheaton has been very vocal about his stance on the Internet and his utter hatred of SOPA and the like. Now Wheaton is calling MPAA boss and former Senator Chris Dodd a liar. He says that jobs …

Speaking at the DLD conference in Munich this morning, Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales didn’t mince words on the subject of former Senator and current MPAA chairman Chris Dodd. He said that Dodd should be fired. Wales and Dodd have been arguing …

Everybody’s favorite former Senator and MPAA boss, Chris Dodd, must not be in a great mood these days after both SOPA and PIPA have been shelved for further debate. His update to the MPAA blog reflects that subdued anger: We …

Today is the day where many popular sites are blacking out in an effort to protest the anti-piracy bills that certain members of the government are so blindly trying to force down the public’s throat. Granted, the uninformed public out …

So, it’s simple to catch Internet pirates, eh? You just grab their IP address when they download stuff from Torrent sites, trace it back to the source and click the cuffs on those thieves. Except when the breadcrumb trail leads …

While famed movie critic Roger Ebert’s perspective on the movie industry isn’t directly related to the piracy acts that have been dominating Internet news, the fact that he doesn’t mention piracy once while discussing the industry’s financial woes resonates much …

Before we get too far, it should be noted that this author does not believe all entertainment should be available on a free for all basis. While that sounds good in theory, there’s nothing wrong with seeing an artist get …

Top Internet Service Providers and media groups are very close to a deal that would amount to one of the most serious anti-piracy measures to date. According to multiple sources, CNET is reporting that a group of ISPs that includes …

The specious arguments made and overly harsh penalties sought by the copyright (Big Media) industry would be comically absurd if systemic corruption didn’t immediately transform them into tragedies.

When the realities of business and art crash into each other, it’s usually art that suffers. Bulls and China shops come to mind, as does the MPAA and the Internet. The Motion Picture Association of America’s latest pile of previously beautiful bits: Fanedit.org.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), acting on behalf of the major studios, has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against Fombd.com and Movierumor.com for alleged copyright infringement.

The MPAA says the sites contribute to and profit from copyright infringement by identifying, posting, and indexing links to infringing content on the Internet allowing people to then view on-demand.

Hollywood has won a major lawsuit against movie linking Web sites ShowStash.com and Cinematube.net.

A federal judge in Los Angeles issued a $2.7 million judgment against Showstash for the infringement of more than a hundred copyrighted movies and television shows. A federal judge awarded the studios a similar judgment against Cinematube for $1.3 million.

The judgments come on the heels of another settlement in favor of the studios, which recently won a $110 million judgment against TorrentSpy.com.

Sparks fly over copyright at Tech Policy Summit | Lawgarithms | ZDNet.com Denise Howell has an informative write up on a copyright debate held last week at the Tech Policy Summit in Hollywood.

Participants in the debate included TiVo VP and general counsel Matt Zinn, Executive Director of the Copyright Alliance Patrick Ross, Fred von Lohman from the EFF and moderator Doug Lichtman of UCLA Law School.

Two things I found interesting in the article.

The Motion Picture Association of America is the latest poster child for reasons not to trust research put out by entities with vested interests in the results of the research. The MPAA is having to send out word that their previous estimates of movie piracy on college campuses were a bit overstated—by a factor of three.