The man who was responsible for uploading that unfinished copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine on the eve of April Fools Day more than a year ago was sentenced today (12/19/11) to a year in federal prison for that simple act that was a function of movie piracy.
This criminal sentence finally puts movie piracy on the books that stealing movies from the internet is, well, stealing.
It was further exemplified that “The Justice Department will pursue and prosecute persons who seek to steal intellectual property…”
What I find interesting is the wording used to represent the deed that took place…
It was noted that Fox had the illegal upload removed from Megaupload within one day of it being uploaded. But during that day, the stolen content went rather viral, and as the legal system called it, his upload resulted in millions of infringements. Infringements.
They’re not mincing words now that they have a conviction under their belts. And this could spell all kinds of legal problems for some folks that are involved in movie piracy, no matter what part of the chain they’re in!
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On Saturday (3-5) the public learned that Robby Gordon and NASCAR Nationwide Series driver Kevin Conway engaged in some heated debate or difference of opinions which resulted in Robby Gordon receiving an indefinite probation from NASCAR and with Kevin Conway filing a police report. (Seriously? A police report?)
It turns out that they had some form of an altercation Friday night and the reason we’re all finding out about is because driver Kevin Conway told NASCAR and additionally, filed a police report that is a misdemeanor battery complaint.
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The two drivers are now engaged in a slightly complicated legal dispute. Mr. Gordon is suing Conway’s sponsor, Extenze, for races that Conway drove for his team. Mr. Conway in turn, is suing Mr. Gordon for money that he says he’s due for driving for Gordon and should have received for being last year’s Cup rookie of the year.
The actual altercation details are non-existent (aka, no one is saying) but after Friday, Conway did a very unique process that you don’t see often from NASCAR drivers… he called the police and then apprised the NASCAR brass about the situation.
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Back in 2005, John Gertz Prods (JGP) had purchased the rights to the novel “The Interview Room.” The book is about a shrink who is an expert at figuring out when folks are lying.
JGP turned that into a screenplay and they called it Lie to Lie.
In 2007 they presented their premise to Fox for a pilot and a few subsequent episodes, but Fox supposedly declined.
Then in 2009, Fox premiered their Tim Roth starrer, Lie To Me.
JPG is suing Fox for breach of confidence and for developing an incredibly similar premise.
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Tony Stewart was in Australia to participate in a Sprintcar (not Sprint Cup) Grand National event in Granville, Australia this last weekend. He competed in the first heat of the night and then, abruptly, disappeared from subsequent events of the night.
Allegedly
Turns out that after the first race, Tony Stewart headed off to talk to track co-owner, Brett Morris, of the Sydney Speedway about the conditions of the track. Here’s where allegedly comes into play:
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Deadliest Catch Cast Quitting
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While the Discovery Channel is suing three boat captains from their hit reality show, Deadliest Catch, for a failure to fulfill some contractual obligation to finish a spinoff series, the captains have decided that the litigation will prevent them from continuing on in Deadliest Catch.
I’m not sure those folks behind Discovery were thinking this through, except through to their wallets.
They have a huge hit on their hands and rather than working it out, with issues for filming to be completed on this spinoff series, Hillstranded, they decide to sue the cast of their own reality show?
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Late Friday night, Paris Hilton was busted for Cocaine Possession. It was found in her purse by police after they pulled over her limousine. The police pulled them over because of an abundance of smoke coming out of the vehicle, in what they thought was marijuana smoke. (Damn… that’s a lot of smoke people!) The limo driver was cited, Paris Hilton arrested, booked and released. This is her third “drug-related” incident this summer.
I can just hear the parents groaning constantly about her chosen lifestyle path. LOL. [People] (This was Cinema Static on Brusimm’s comedic entry for the day!)
Sometimes actors have ‘tude, sometimes they don’t. For me, I’m thinking the extreme and of self-important ‘tude is when you don’t an RV on time and you sue the RV dealership.
It seems that the RV dealership missed their deadline to deliver a $300k, 2006 customized RV to Taylor Lautner and he’s making sure they pay for the err of their ways with a lawsuit.
Me, I adapt and move on, making sure I don’t do business with a stupid entity again… but to sue? My respect for the man-boy has gone down a few points from this one. Is that huge pay-raise he’s developing from all the Twilight work gone to his head? Eh.
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Skyline Movie Legal Troubles
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It seems that Sony is looking to squash the competition. Sony has Battle: Los Angeles coming out next year, while Hydraulix, who is producing Skyline, will be coming out in November of this year. Skyline made a big impact when they premiered their preview at Comic Con and there was a lot of enthusiasm towards the project.
But Sony is alleging that Hydraulix used Sony proprietary equipment to make their human sucking alien invasion movie. Ya see, Hydraulix did the special effects for Sony’s pic too.
Obviously the timing looks suspicious since Sony said they had no clue Skyline existed until July… even though Greg Stause of Hydraulix said they pitched the movie to Sony last fall. Then sources say that no one showed Sony anything.
He said, she said. They said, they said. Here we go.
Hydraulix says the charges are merit-less and is only a ploy to delay the release of their alien invasion movie so it doesn’t open until after Sony’s alien invasion movie.
On the bright side, they’re not vampire movies?
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When one dances with the devil, there’s a price to pay. When you dance with the llaw, skirt the semblance of safe and create such a scenario that you are forced to wear an ankle bracelet, what do you expect when you don’t comply with requirements of your legal ramifications.
And don’t tell me she painted eff you on her finger nails, not knowing what was going to happen in court and it wasn’t directed at the system that was about to come down on her. I think that pretty much said all that needed to be said about the situation actually, but still. I have to wonder how many days Lindsay Lohan would have received if she didn’t paint her fingernails?
But then after her sentence, she blamed her lawyer and found herself a new one. Cinema Static is thinking “typical.” But as mom has said, she doesn’t need rehab. LOL!
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I came across an article on Deadline Hollywood noting that details during an SEC civil suit lends credence to the premise that Disney is pondering the sale of ABC. This could bode poorly or it could bode well for fans of the network… this includes all genre and sports. God knows NASCAR fans have taken a bit of a beating at the hands of “ESPN on ABC.”
The legal snafu is from the arrest of the secretary to the head of Disney’s corporate communications, who was selling insider earnings reports to investors. (That sounds rather non-profitable, considering the illegal nature of the information!)
I love when greed forces people’s hands to make incredibly stupid moves. In this case, selling information to undercover FBI. dOh!
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