Slashdot Mirror
Miramax C&Ds Kung Fu Movie Reviewer
Mirkon writes "When a movie distributor attains rights to a film, it's rather predictable that they go after individuals offering the movie for sale or free. But Miramax took it a step further - as reported by Wired and on the site itself, Mark Pollard of Kung Fu Cinema received a Cease & Desist letter from Miramax concerning a link on Kung Fu Cinema to a movie purchasing site for the Jet Li movie Hero (set to be officially released in North America in April 2004). Fearing Miramax (and thus Disney) and their army of lawyers, Pollard deleted the link, as well as another for Shaolin Soccer, also unreleased in North America. Pollard criticized the studio for not permitting the original version of such films to hit the states, saying "If they own the rights to this film, then this film is not available to U.S. consumers -- period." The EFF also has some comments regarding the fact that Pollard has done nothing wrong in the first place."
Slashdot links to a story that links to Kung Fu Cinema that links to a movie purchasing site.
Beware the wrath of Miramax lawyers!
fp?I was in San Francisco in September and I bought the Hero DVD in Chinatown !
(I also got a French subtitled version of Shaolin Soccer one year and a half ago !?)
How can Miramax be *that* late and how can they ignore that one may find these DVDs in Chinese shops ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
The movie realy is good. A simple story told from several view points using a diferrent color scheme for each one. If you can, watch the original and do not go to the US release.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Yeah, I believe that one. Shaolin Soccer was supposed to have come out this past summer... saw trailers for it during Bend It Like Beckham and saw movie posters for it hanging in theaters. Has it been released theatrically here? No. Even if it had been, it was going to be a highly-edited version.
That's why people end up having to buy things like Hero "illegally." In fact, I think I'll go order a copy right now... before Miramax tells eBay to cease and desist...
"This? I can make a hat, I can make a brooch, I can make a pterodactyl..."
The EFF also has some comments regarding the fact that Pollard has done nothing wrong in the first place.
Whether or not he did something wrong is irrelevent. It's whether or not he did something unprofitable. Some corporations these days seem to believe they have a god-given right to profit, and that censorship and lawsuit chill is an acceptable tool to that end.
Until the average freedom-loving American starts to wake up to this and works to get the courts to adjust, it's probably only going to get worse. What happens when they realize that not talking about it on a website doesn't curb the problem? Tinfoil hats, people, they'll be after your thoughts next.
I'm sort of kidding, but not really. They're already blaming text messaging for ruining movie profits.
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Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...
a lager group? hooray!
Hey, am I breaking the law by linking to places where you can buy this DVD??
Please C&D this post.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Hong Kong is NTSC. It is also very cheap, even for legitimate discs (as this site sells). After all, if it's legal there, it's usually legal for you to import it, although not to sell. You might need an all-region player (HK being in region 3), but a lot of legit HK discs - like Shaolin Soccer - are code 0 anyway.
Over in the UK, all of our our DVD players can play both PAL and NTSC, almost all of the cheap supermarket ones are already or can be made multiregion by remote, and certain high-street hi-fi chains sell modded MR product (I have a MR Pioneer 360 from them). Even our version of Amazon sells modded multiregion kit - the current top spot is a modded Sony DVP-NS330. Multiregion is much more widespread here, and that's a good thing for British consumers (even though most of them don't know about it). I try to let my friends know.