As a photographer, I’ve occasionally run up against copyright issues. I don’t sell most of my images (of course, if you want to buy one, I’m happy to oblige), but I do keep in mind what I’m shooting because of the recent battles over who owns the content of an image.
I came in direct contact with this two years ago when I took my D70 to a Rockets game - I was actually a guest of the Rockets that night - with my 70-300 zoom on it. I did get it in after having it checked, but an usher spotted me using it and said I had to either leave or give the camera to the lost and found people until after the game. They said that league policy prohibits lenses larger than 6 inches inside the arena. I guess size does matter.
Fortunately, one of the Rocket employees let me stash my camera in his office so I didn’t have to throw it in with the coats, cell phones and lost keys.
Of course, the music industry is all about the copyright infringement with the same issue: who owns the content of the CD you bought. They are lawsuit happy, suing virtually anyone they can determine downloaded enough music to prosecute. Nevermind that most of them are teenagers who are actually promoting the music they are downloading. I’m not a big fan of mass illegal downloading, but you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, so the industry needs to find a new business model or die.
I don’t know much about bootlegging films, which is the reason for this post in the first place. I’m long winded. I think I’ve seen one pirated film in my life, a crappy copy of a crappy movie (Constantine) I happened to see at a local club when I went to see some friends play on a Sunday night. I witnessed all of about 10 minutes with no sound, more than enough time to determine I didn’t need to spend any money on that stinker. Otherwise, I don’t have a clue about black market film theft.
Neither did this girl until she was arrested for recording 20 seconds of the Transformers.
Jhannet Sejas and her boyfriend were celebrating her 19th birthday by taking in a matinee showing of the hit movie “Transformers” at the theater at Ballston Common mall.
Sejas was enjoying the movie so much that she decided to film a short clip of the sci-fi adventure’s climax to get her little brother hyped to go see it.
Minutes later, two Arlington County police officers were pointing their flashlights at the young couple in the darkened theater and ordering them out. They confiscated the digital camera as evidence and charged Sejas, a Marymount University sophomore and Annandale resident, with a crime: illegally recording a motion picture.
This very well might be the silliest thing to happen at a movie theater since the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Ok, she probably shouldn’t have a camera in the theater even if it was a digital still camera with only a small amount of space for recording video. But, it could’ve been a cell phone. Mine records video - not well, but that’s not the point here I guess.
Cinematical explains why this is stupid as if it needed explaining.
The assistant manager of the theater saw her use the camera and reported it to the general manager. The general manager decided to bypass such reasonable steps as a) asking her never to record in the theater again, b) asking her to erase the footage or c) asking her to leave the theater, and simply telephoned the police.
A few weeks ago, I watched This Film Is Not Yet Rated, a documentary about the movie ratings board and their arbitrary system of rating films. HIGHLY recommended because it was damn entertaining. It was a glimpse into the movie business and the mad power grab of Jack Valenti over the last 20 years. Much like the rating system, this hysteria over movie piracy is completely out of control.
“I was terrified,” said Sejas, her voice breaking. “I was crying. I’ve never been in trouble before.” She said the assistant manager of the theater saw her holding up the Canon Power Shot and reported it to the general manager, who called police.
Sejas said she had no intention of selling the 20-second film clip. She just wanted to show it to her 13-year-old brother, who had said he wanted to see the movie. She was shocked when the officers showed up.
Sejas faces up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500 when she goes to trial this month in the July 17 incident. Arlington police spokesman John Lisle said it was the decision of Regal Cinemas Ballston Common 12 to prosecute the case, a first for Arlington police.
“They were the victim in this case, and they felt strongly enough about it,” he said. The general manager of Regal Cinemas declined to comment yesterday.
Oh, yes, REGAL CINEMAS was the “victim.” I’ll tell you who the victim is: WE ARE. When I go to a movie that costs me $8 and spend $4 on bottled water that I could get for 99 cents at a convenience store, where they are ass raping me on the price already, or $6 on crappy popcorn, I’m getting screwed. They should be THRILLED if I want to record 20 seconds of a movie to convince some other poor sap to drop $25 on tickets and “refreshments” to sit through what will likely be another shitty blockbuster with bad acting and millions worth of CGI.
They have the nerve to feel victimized when their “value” soda sizes that could hydrate the population of Somalia cost more than two twelve packs at the grocery store?
And way to waste the time of police who couldn’t possibly have ANYTHING better to do than bust some poor kid for attempted movie piracy? Given how crime-free the entire Washington DC area is, I guess it is reasonable to assume that those cops wouldn’t have been doing anything important anyway. My guess is that they were letting kids play with the siren on the police car and helping old ladies cross the street since crime doesn’t exist in Arlington, Virginia.
Besides facing a misdemeanor charge, Sejas was also banned for life from the movie theater she has frequented. Sejas, a Bolivian immigrant who works two part-time jobs to help finance her education, works at the Victoria’s Secret store near the movie theater.
Her boyfriend, Ivar Villazon, said the camera belongs to his sister; the couple borrowed it, Sejas said, to “make memories” on her birthday.
Kendrick Macdowell, general counsel for the Washington-based National Association of Theatre Owners, said that illegal pirating of films costs the industry billions of dollars and that the industry was stepping up efforts to stamp it out.
Because of that, he said, there has to be a “zero-tolerance policy at the theater level.”
“We cannot educate theater managers to be judges and juries in what is acceptable,” he said. “Theater managers cannot distinguish between good and bad stealing.”
Well, if your managers can’t tell the difference, then they are morons and you are freaking idiots for hiring them. Oh, that’s right, you pay them per hour less than you charge for a box of Milk Duds. You’re not exactly getting Harvard grads wanting to manage a cineplex.
This is so beyond insulting not just to the people who work at theaters, but to its patrons. You can’t possibly expect me to believe that with the incredibly tight controls you have over EVERYTHING, the millions you make in DVD rentals and purchases, the gobs of cash you get through licensing and product placement and the billions made off of merchandising that your industry is falling apart because some 19-year-old recorded 20 seconds of the freaking Transformers.
Either you think we are monumentally stupid or your business model is severely flawed. My guess is that it is a little of both.
This is the very reason I love the internet. It is beyond the control of corporations who demand sweeping policy changes by the government and fill court dockets with idiotic lawsuits. It’s your own damn fault. You got so fat and bloated off the laziness and lack of attention of the average folks, you thought you could charge whatever you wanted forever. Then, digital technology came along and crammed a giant Twizzler in your nether regions and you scream to the government for help.
I’m fine with busting major pirates (arrr…) and hard core copyright thieves. They deserve whatever they get. But, this nonsensical jackbooted thuggery employed to protect every molecule of your precious intellectual property is stupid, juvenile and a waste of everyone’s time and money.
There are lots and lots and lots of very, very stupid people on this planet and in this country working for even more stupid managers who are incapable of making the simplest of decisions other than to reinforce the crede that one gets what one pays for in most things.