"Pixels" DMCA Takedown Even Worse Than We Thought

ForgedArtificer writes: So we all know about the Pixels takedown on Vimeo, and that it was pretty bad in a lot of ways. But did you know that they took down the short film that inspired the movie? Turns out, the 2010 Pixels, which was taken off Vimeo due to copyright notice, was responsible for inspiring the entire Adam Sandler flick. Unlike Sandler's film, it's critically-acclaimed and has won awards. Talk about kicking someone when they're already down. First Patrick Jean gets to watch them violate his work and now they're claiming that his work violates theirs.

Comments

Opportunity

[fyngyrz]

This is an opportunity. Anyone who knows anyone in the media should make it a point to make a story out of this -- it plays as big guy robbing, then kicking, the little guy. An opportunity for the little guy to get their head above water, which -- at times -- can work out surprisingly well.

Of course, we know that's not what's happening; this is rote behavior by uncaring people resulting in unfortunate collateral damage.

It's just as wrong, but it isn't based on specific intent.

Copyright, patent and trademark -- all broken as hell.

And I say that as someone who makes a significant income from all three.

Re:Opportunity

[mysidia]

There should be a class-action lawsuit from all content creators affected against the DMCA letter spewing company AND the studio who hired them for gross-negligence And copyright abuse.

They should seek to have creator's copyright interest in the new film struck down by the courts.

Re:Opportunity

[bmo]

but it isn't based on specific intent.

You're kidding, right?

Copyright trolls and the publishers that love the concept know exactly what they're doing.

There is no punishment for even malicious DMCA takedowns. It's "kill them all and let God sort them out" behavior.

--
BMO

Re:Opportunity

[CanEHdian]

There is no punishment for even malicious DMCA takedowns. It's "kill them all and let God sort them out" behavior.

And that was done *on purpose* to shield the "Rightsholders" from any harm (the strong worded "bla bla penalty of perjury bla bla" -- believed by some to be a check-and-balance -- in fact protects them too, namely that noone can run an extorton racket by make false claim of representing the "Rightsholders" -- to ensure any money flows in their direction and not some fraud).

There should be a "strike" system for takedowns too; x many false notices and you can only submit on paper, and this time on penalty of perjury that the work in question infringes on the work being claimed. That can eventually lead to JAIL TIME.

Re:Opportunity

[Anonymous Coward]

Revenue, not profits. Never go after Hollywood for profits, there never are any.

Re:Opportunity

[Enigma2175]

No. The money you can get from a class-action is insignificant and not worth your time.
The affected content creators should pull out the same bullshit numbers that the copyright trolls do when they talk about potentially lost income and handle it individually.

Yeah, class action suits almost never give a real benefit to members of the class. Most of the time the "compensation" is coupons to buy more merchandise from the same manufacturer that screwed you in the first place. No thanks, Iomega, your zip drive already made me lose my data -- why would I want to buy another one from you?

Re:Counter DMCA notice

[quantaman]

The situation seems ripe for him to file a DMCA notice against all of Columbia's official film sites and materials. He can prove his film existed before Columbia's was even started, and he has Columbia's admission (in their DMCA notice against his work) that their work is similar enough to his for infringement to occur.

Except he doesn't own the copyright to the short anymore, Sandler's production company who made the 2015 Pixels film does.

Now they made a really crappy movie based on the original short, but they had the legal right to do so.

Re:the original intent

[Anonymous Coward]

the concept of intellectual property, the very notion of it, is completely logically and morally bankrupt, and must die

Intellectual property is a false property right, in the same way that slavery was a false property right.

Eventually, we realized that the freedom of mankind was more important than the financial health of plantation owners.

And, eventually, we will realize that the freedom of our ideas is more important that the financial health of publishing corporations.

We live in a strange time in history. We understand that people must be free, but we inexplicably fail to realize that a person is not truly free unless his ideas are free as well. Future generations will look back on us for our barbaric, immoral selfishness -- in the same way that we look back on the American slave trade for their barbaric, immoral selfishness.

futurama did it

[ganjadude]

didnt the futurama episode come out before that movie as well?