Man Faces $600k In Fines After His Grandson Downloads Movies

[matcom]

<snip>

A Racine man who says he doesn't even like watching movies, let alone copying them off the Internet, is being sued by the film industry for copyright infringement after his 13-year-old grandson downloaded four movies on their home computer.

The Motion Picture Association of America, on behalf of three major Hollywood studios, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against Fred Lawrence, a 67-year-old retiree. The suit seeks as much as $600,000 in damages for downloading four movies over iMesh, an Internet file-sharing service.

The lawsuit comes after Lawrence, a former employee of Snap-on Inc. and seasonal worker for the City of Racine, refused a March offer to settle the matter by paying $4,000.

"First of all, like I say, I guess I'd have to plead being naïve about the whole thing," said Lawrence. He said his grandson, then 12, downloaded "The Incredibles," "I, Robot," "The Grudge," and "The Forgotten" in December, not knowing it was illegal.

Lawrence said his grandson downloaded the movies out of curiosity. The family already owned three of the four titles on DVD, and his grandson deleted the computer files immediately, he said.

"I personally didn't do it, and I wouldn't do it. But I don't think it was anything but an innocent mistake my grandson made," Lawrence said.

He hasn't settled because he doesn't have the money, and a lawyer said the settlement was likely a scare tactic that wouldn't result in a lawsuit. Now he doesn't know what he's going to do.

"I can see where they wouldn't want this to happen, but when you get up around $4,000 . . . I don't have that kind of money," Lawrence said. "I never was and never will be a wealthy person."

The movie industry readily concedes it won't gain public sympathy suing someone like Lawrence, but a spokesperson said that's not the point.

"We're not asking for anyone's sympathy. We are asking for people to understand the consequences of Internet piracy," said Kori Bernards, vice president of corporate communications for MPAA.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/racine/nov05/367482.asp?format=print

[Craig3410]

1. And my sister downloads full-length TV shows,

and my mother thinks it's "no big deal".

Oh well; just means I don't have to pay the huge fines.

[Kellanved]

12. as long as she uses a TV to do so

:shrug:


:silly:

[NorthernSpy]

2. Hollywood needs to fuck off and die

Video piracy is harmful to Hollywood -- which is what I like about it. The sooner we're rid of those damn people and the inane shit they produce, the better.

[ohiosmith]

3. It may be shit. But it's their shit and they are entitled to protect it

against ripoff.

[DS1]

4. Yeah, if it's such a load of shit, why download it in the first place?

:shrug:

[ohiosmith]

7. Shit is in the nose of the beholder.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

6. How much are they really being ripped off though?

This family had already purchased three of the four films in question.

I recently downloaded an episode of Lost from a P2P network because either my VCR failed to tape it when it was on or the cable was out (not sure exactly which).

Just how exactly is that "ripping off" ABC?

[ohiosmith]

8. I'm telling.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

9. Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

[NorthernSpy]

10. what Hollywood does about these things is a matter of indifference for me

I'm just relishing the prospect of their failure and demise.

Me, I don't want what they produce. But if those who do want that stuff download it for free on the sly, that does not bother me. I would not turn a "video pirate" in to the authorities.

I owe no kind of neighborliness to the motion picture industry. They are simply outside my sphere of moral concern.


In other words, I don't care what becomes of those people, so long as it's bad.

[Fox Mulder]

11. I agree.

Both Hollywood and the RIAA can fuck off.

This is never going to stop me from downloading music/movies for free. At least I know what I'm doing so I'll never get caught.

[Shell Beau]

5. I feel bad for gramps!!