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Leak Star Wars, Go To Jail
Shea O'Brien Foley, a former production assistant at LucasFilm, has been arrested on 13 counts of theft of Star Wars material from LucasFilm worth $450,000. The police investigation was launched after an early Attack of the Clones cut was leaked to and reviewed by Aint It Cool News in March, two months before it hit theaters. Other than the fact that Ain't It Cool News and Harry Knowles aren't being charged with anything, police aren't saying much. Apparently, Jedi mind tricks didn't work on the arresting officers. Update: 10/14 23:51 GMT by T : Michael Singer points to an article on internet.com with more depth.
they need to send "screener" copies to many people so that they can give good reviews on the movies. I would say that these copies are the ones that are most generally leaked to the Internet.
See TMD's copy of My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which had a counter running in the top corner of the screen the entire movie), or Signs which had a red line moving from top left to bottom right every so often. Other movies I have seen that were found on the Internet have long scrolling messages from the MPAA about reporting if you have purchased or found this release anywhere except an offical source...
I absolutely *refuse* to watch CAM versions of movies that have been put on the net. I would rather wait for the DiVX copy of the DVD or the screener.
Most of the problems occur internally, not at the theater. They are just being annoying.
He didn't steal something--stealing is depriving someone of a good that they own. No one was deprived, however he did violate copyright law and contract law.
This is illegal, of course. But how much damage did he do? The $450,000 figure is probably silly. I'd imagine that no money was actually lost. Anyone hard up enough to acquire the pirated good before release certainly went to watch it in theatre.
illegal is illegal
Hardly. There are levels of crimes. We don't punish traffic code violators like we do murderers. With no real damage, this is on the level of petty misdemeanor.
I have no beef with after its release. People are going to see a movie for the effect whether they get a pirated version or not, in almost every case I know of (as far as) movie piracy.
Not to be a troll, but you do notice you contradict yourself, right?
You even quoted it ...'related material'. I read about this a few days ago in a more in depth piece. He stole many things, the movie being only one of them. He also stole assorted props and other things. The cops raided his mom's basement where he was living (no, really) and found it chock full of star wars goods.
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The internet news article said that the 450K was the actual cost of the items found in his appartment, and that the potential lost revenue from the early review was incalculable. Apparently this guy had stolen a lot of stuff.
No, this will not be prosecuted as a breach-of-contract. It will most likely be prosecuted as plain and simple grand theft. Lucasfilm will most likely not try to sue this guy for financial damages because this guy hardly has the money to be worth the suit.
What is more important to Lucasfilm is a publicized case to make folks think twice about lifting stuff from a film set (as happened very recently from the set of The Cat in the Hat film).
From an article with actual substance rather than a big graphic of the reporter:
Among the stolen items that were recovered, according to the affidavit:
? Nineteen CD-ROM discs containing the entire restricted library of sound effects
created during the past 25 years for use in the "Star Wars" films, with an
estimated "collectible value" of $95,000.
? More than 2,000 high-quality digital images from "Episode II," valued at
$125,000.
? Hundreds of video files of "Episode II," from concept shots to final clips,
valued at $100,000.
? About 113 storyboard images - or sketches outlining scenes from the film - with
handwritten notes by Lucas, valued at more than $100,000.
and
When threatened with dismissal, Foley admitted that he had taken photo images,
storyboards and a script for "Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace," but "nothing
big," according to the court document. He specifically denied having a copy of
"Episode II."
Foley said he was an "avid fan" and had taken the items for his "souvenir
collection" at his Petaluma home, according to the court document.
Foley agreed to allow Webb to look through the items at his home and when they
arrived at his Lakeville Circle townhouse the investigator saw "tons of 'Star
Wars' items," Webb said in the affidavit. Foley turned over numerous items,
including 25 CDs with images of the film, three videotapes of "Episode I"
voice-over tests, 115 storyboard image strips and a hard disk drive with
downloaded photo images.
He (or his mother, who lives in the Irvine residence cited below) also, perhaps, attempted to destroy evidence:
Authorities served a search warrant at the Irvine residence the next day, the
court document said, and found "Star Wars" production photos in a trash can, as
well as shredded documents that appeared to be "Star Wars" sketches.
Only the dead have seen the end of war.
Among the stolen items that were recovered, according to the affidavit:
Nineteen CD-ROM discs containing the entire restricted library of sound effects created during the past 25 years for use in the "Star Wars" films, with an estimated "collectible value" of $95,000.
More than 2,000 high-quality digital images from "Episode II," valued at $125,000.
Hundreds of video files of "Episode II," from concept shots to final clips, valued at $100,000.
About 113 storyboard images - or sketches outlining scenes from the film - with handwritten notes by Lucas, valued at more than $100,000.
I emailed Harry Knowles and Moriarty, the Ain't It cool News guys several days ago, and submitted this story, as well. Both maintained they had MORE than one source, AND that this guy was not one of those aforementioned sources. Here are the responses I got :
"If they charged him, he was stealing stuff, but I've never heard nor met that guy." - Harry
"We've never heard of him." - Moriarty
If they are to believed, then this guy is unrelated to them. The fact that LucasFilm has not pressed charges only backs up that fact.
Oh, and by the way:
2002-10-09 19:48:17 Steal from George, go to jail (articles,starwars) (rejected)
If this guy is smart, he'll get a good lawyer and sue his (former) employer LucasFilm for not warning him that taking home company items could be a crime. What with being arrested AND having to give the stuff back, the pain & suffering damages could be astronomical.
Remember, if you're a burglar and you fall through a skylight or electrocute yourself disarming the burglar alarm, you can get a big settlement!
He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington."
Several types of damages:
1. Contractual: you signed a contract saying you wouldn't disclose confidential information and agree to forfeit some predetermined fine if caught. Powerful companies like LucasFilms can convince wannabe production assistants to sign practically anything.
2. Lost revenue - did releasing the preview to aintitcool, a very popular site among earth-bound Jedi, have the *foreseeable* effect of hurting potential revenues? Potential revenues is purely mathmatical, but somewhat arbitrary. Multiply X% of aintitcool users who would be turned off by a mediocre review by the per ticket revenue for LucasFilms. In a civil trial, X is determined by a jury, generally.
3. Lost Property - Consider how much just one of those still shots with Lucas' comments would go for on eBay. Multiply.
-FC
You have to have some sort of contract, and this was a violation. But anybody who distributed it is not a part of the contract and has no liability at all.