Preview

The Impact of Torrents on Film Studios

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1675 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Impact of Torrents on Film Studios
Hollywood Studios v. IsoHunt: The Impact of Torrents on Film Studios
Gaurav Masram
Entertainment Business, M.S.
Full Sail University

The advent of the Internet and online distribution of entertainment properties has revolutionized various ways copyrighted material is infringed. Unlike previous technologies, one can easily download copyrighted material from the web. Peer-to-peer file sharing is one such technology, which has a tremendous impact on the revenues of the original authors. Film and the entertainment industry are fighting against piracy, but the more they try, the more they fail. It is a bubble, which is blowing out of proportion without any control.
Rajshri Motion Pictures faces a huge liability and risk because of online piracy. This paper not only indulges in the scenario of online piracy by studying a relevant case, but also discusses ways to mitigate the risks and theft of copyrighted material. A motion picture is a result of successful collaboration of talent and huge investment in terms of money. Online piracy is not only a bug that eats away all the revenues, but it is like a disease, which is widespread in the world of entertainment. Research shows that copyright protection and online piracy laws are not that strict in countries like Switzerland, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and UK. However, Germany and the U.S. are the only two countries that are the most stringent and active fighters against unlawful sharing of online content (" don’t download," 2013).
Torrent search engines and websites form the sources and efficient platforms for online pirates to upload and download copyrighted material for free. These websites are based on indexing technology that arranges the torrent file upload. Unlike the client server model, it works on peer-to-peer technology. Users who share files are seeds and people who download content are leeches. When a user downloads a file from a torrent platform it is downloaded



References: Boyden, B. (2010, November 1). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://law.marquette.edu/facultyblog/2010/11/01/the-most-important-supreme-court-case-in-copyright-law-sony-corp-v-universal-city-studios-1984/ Busch, R. (2013, April 1). Movie studios win important appeal against file sharing giant isohunt. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardbusch/2013/04/01/movie-studios-win-important-appeal-against-bittorrent-giant-isohunt/ don’t download that bro, you’re going to get busted!. (2013, March 16). Retrieved from http://torrentfreak.com/dont-download-that-bro-youre-going-to-get-busted-130316/ Ernesto. (2013, July 20). Mpaa demands source code of isohunt’s “failing” piracy filter. Retrieved from http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-demands-source-code-of-isohunts-failing-piracy-filter-130720/ Gardner, E. (2013, March 21). Hollywood studios win isohunt appeal. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/hollywood-studios-win-isohunt-appeal-430244 Hill, K. (2013, February 25). Will the new 'copyright alert system ' actually stop people from downloading music and movies illegally?. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2013/02/25/copyright-alert-system/ Lawler, R. (2009, December 24). California court sides with hollywood studios in isohunt case. Retrieved from http://gigaom.com/2009/12/24/california-court-sides-with-hollywood-studios-in-isohunt-case/ Sandoval, G. (2013, March 21). Court affirms isohunt copyright infringement, says company encouraged piracy. Retrieved from http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/21/4132374/appeals-court-affirms-isohunt-is-liable-for-copyright-infringment What is a copyright alert?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.copyrightinformation.org/the-copyright-alert-system/what-is-a-copyright-alert/ Wilson, S. U.S. Department of Justice, Opinion. (2013). United states court of appeals for the ninth circuit (10-55946). Retrieved from United States District Court website: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/03/21/10-55946.pdf

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shepardizing Pa201

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages

    How many law reviews have cited to this case? Please give the citation to the first one to cite to this case.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Piracy is a long debated issue, expressly in the entertainment industry. It is argued that encryption programs are necessary to prevent piracy, protecting the rights of artists as well as production agents. Yet, an important query on this matter still remains; the question of public benefit and free flowing ideas for purchasers wanting limited copies in digital form. Yet the rights of the artists and producers still remains leaving the question of copyright violation, the idea behind encryption is valid but only to a certain aspect. Piracy will not be able to be brought to an end so hastily as long as the motivation to do so still remains, that is the real problem behind this debate. The purchasers should be allowed to make a limited number of copies as a fair use policy. If a purchaser fairly buys rights to a product they should be allowed to make copies for themselves via modes of laptop and other digital other issues relating to the consumer as well, which may result in this idea to be more counterproductive instead of beneficial. Instead of using encryption it may be more productive in the long run to educate purchasers of a product about piracy. The costs of products such as DVD’s and BLU-RAY copies has steadily increased causing a lot of consumers to make do with cheaper and pirated versions…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With the proliferation of 3-D Printers and the availability of copyrighted materials posted online, there is an additional facet to the current debate surrounding copyright and ownership of intellectual property. Piracy of digital media such as music and videos has been a long-standing issue since the 1990’s with Napster and similar peer-to-peer file sharing programs.…

    • 4860 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Advancements in today's technology have allowed users to access and use computer programs, movies, music and other multimedia for which they have not purchased. Technological advancements are coming along at such a quick pace that the enforcement of copyright laws cannot keep pace. Music piracy exploded in the late 1990's and caused groups such as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to crack down on companies such as Napster that provided that provided free music downloads. The number of lawsuits against individuals who illegally download music has escalated to the point that people are now switching to legal internet sites that sell music downloads. The ethicality of this issue has touched many people throughout the world…

    • 2646 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Cis 324 Computer Ethics

    • 2262 Words
    • 10 Pages

    In the short time that computers and internet have existed in the modern era, the world has seen a complete 360 degree turn and in the various forms of electronic entertainment that people all over the world are now using. In the days before CD’s, DVD’s and the internet, not much was said if a vinyl album (remember these?), VHS cassette (or these?) or an audio cassette was loaned to a friend for their listening / viewing pleasure, but today with the availability of sending an email with three or four megabytes (mb) of information, one can enjoy a borrowed song but is assumed that it is piracy or stealing. Is this a fair assumption? This Author will not give his opinion but rather discuss both sides of the Peer to Peer (P2P) downloading and sharing issues and let the reader form their own opinions.…

    • 2262 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ess001 Final Exam

    • 4794 Words
    • 20 Pages

    Over the past ten years, the movie industry has been trying to combat piracy, which has become a serious threat to many movie studios. One of the most…

    • 4794 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Movie piracy has become one of the world’s worst crimes in history. It has cause the movie industry a severe amount of money. It has also cost people that work in the movie industry their jobs. Technology in today’s society has made it so easy to duplicate whatever comes to the theater. The criminals that chose to do such a crime can care less of the penalties that they may encounter. The loss of jobs has made it difficult for the industry to continue to create movies. Major movie companies have begun to lay off workers because of such loss of money.…

    • 1482 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    experience

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages

    At issue in the twenty-first century is the trade-off between the necessity of writers, musicians, artists, and movie studios to profit from their work and the free flow of ideas for the public benefit. Movie (and music) industry participants claim that encryption programs are necessary to prevent piracy. Others, however, including the defendants in cases such as Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley, 273 F.3d 429 (2d Cir. 2001), argue that the law should at least allow purchasers of movies, music, and books in digital form to make limited copies for fair use.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The internet has allowed a proliferation of other forms of file sharing. People can share digital files either in an open system, where anyone can access them, or in a restricted was that allows access only to certain people. This technology also poses great risks to copyright. When a person makes a product that is subject to copyright; that is, another person cannot copy it without permission from the original producer.…

    • 2970 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Movie Piracy Is Stealing

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages

    With the growing number of internet users participating in movie piracy, this creates a network of users who no longer need to go the movie theatre or video store to watch a movie. Movie piracy has grown enormously in the past few years making it easier than ever to find box office releases with the simple click of a button. This creates a world where it is okay to steal billions of dollars from movie producers, because most of those participating in piracy see nothing wrong with it. Although there are consequences for downloading copyrighted content, it is nearly impossible to prosecute each user who is downloading a particular movie. Instead of relying on punishing those who are downloading the content, it is most important to make this content unavailable getting rid of this problem altogether.…

    • 1380 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A New Age of Music Piracy

    • 1946 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Fetscherin, Marc, and Sabrina Zaugg, "Music Piracy on Peer-to-Peer Networks," eee, pp. 431-440, 2004 IEEE International Conference on e-Technology, e-Commerce and e-Service (EEE '04), 2004.…

    • 1946 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Copyright Infringement

    • 812 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars will be lost by 2015 from pirated content. With sites like The Pirate Bay and Kickass torrents making it as simple as a few clicks away, downloading illegal copies of music, TV shows, movies and other software has never been easier. In the second quarter of 2014, an estimated 10 billion movies, TV shows and many other files had been downloaded worldwide. Six percent of that was illegal downloads, 600 million illegal downloads in just a three month period. Copyright infringement is one of the many horrible things that happens today and we need to come up with a better way to prevent it.…

    • 812 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    We are living in the Internet age; copyright protection is a big ethical challenge for countries.…

    • 218 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The topic of this case study deals with the problem of online piracy and copyright infringement. In this paper, a discussion will be made on the problems with the topic. A list of alternatives to the problem will be displayed, a possible resolution to the problem, followed by a contingency plan to further implement problem solving ideas. The purpose of this case study is to bring awareness to this devastating issue of the selling of copyrighted materials and products without owner compensation. An understanding of the seriousness of the problem must be understood and dealt with in order to protect companies and individuals from their right to market, sell and profit from their talent and ideals.…

    • 1466 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It is quite simple to obtain music today, one can purchase songs and download music videos on the World Wide Web with just a few mouse clicks. This is an achievement brought about by the digital technologies and the Internet which has enabled its users to stream or download musical works. Online music stores such as the Amazon and Grooveshark offer media libraries containing a huge variety of songs to the users for a fee while others may do so for free. However, just as it is simple to purchase music legally, it is as simple for Internet pirates to use the web as a platform to up - and download music files illegally. The increased use of technology has given a nod to reproduction of unauthorized…

    • 1881 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays