Movie trade group sues 2 websites for copyright infringement
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | 2:17 PM ET
CBC News
The Motion Picture Association of America says it's suing two websites for copyright infringement.
The trade association that represents Hollywood movie studios said Tuesday it filed civil lawsuits against Fomdb.com and Movierumor.com in Los Angeles because they make money from advertisements while providing links where web users can download movies illegally.
"The purpose of these lawsuits is to stop this kind of blatant illegal activity," MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman said, adding that the lawsuits were filed after cease-and-desist letters to the websites went unanswered.
"There are many people operating illegal websites like these who are profiting from the theft of protected content," the MPAA said in a release. "We have every intention of shutting down these, and sites like them, for good."
Requests for comment from the websites went unanswered. Some movies that Movierumor.com featured included: I Am Legend; Sex and the City; and 10,000 B.C., according to the complaint filed against the website by MPAA. Some movies that Fomdb.com had included: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; and Kung Fu Panda.
Lawsuits have been filed against seven similar websites since June 2007, the MPAA said. In May, a federal judge in Los Angeles awarded multimillion-dollar judgments to the movie studios against Showstash.com and Cinematube.com for the infringement of copyrighted movies and television shows, the association said.
The MPAA claims the worldwide movie industry lost $18.2 billion US in 2005 to piracy, of which more than $7 billion was from internet piracy.
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