The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) has once again made their enforcement efforts against the P2P community visible. The last publicly announced effort by the MPAA dates back to July 27 of 2005, when the MPAA sued 5 individuals in Texas who refused, for whatever reason, to settle. This doesn't mean the MPAA hasn't been busy, as today's announcement represents round 10 against alleged P2P pirates.

Overall, the MPAA has been less aggressive against the P2P community than the RIAA. Instead, the MPAA and its global affiliate the MPA have chosen to pursue physical pirates. Spurred by the intense piracy trade in Asia, the MPA and MPAA have, with the help of local police, shut down dozens of optical plants and confiscated millions of CD/DVD discs.

Today's announcement demonstrates the MPAA is active; however their efforts are specifically oriented. With the Oscar's scheduled for March 5, the MPAA is targeting only those sharing movies nominated for Academy-Awards. The list of nominated films is extensive, and includes titles such as "Good Night and Good Luck", "Walk the Line", "Batman Begins", and "Memoirs of a Geisha."

The press release did not specify how many individuals were targeted nor which networks were being used. However, a spokesperson for the MPAA told Slyck.com this campaign is part of an "ongoing effort and over the past year and a half [in which] several hundreds of individuals have been sued." In addition, the MPAA told Slyck.com the following P2P/file-sharing clients were used "Azureus, BitComet, BitTornado, Mainline, Shadow, -B, KaZaA (FastTrack), iMesh (FastTrack), LimeWire (Gnutella) and Bearshare (Gnutella)."

Like the RIAA’s efforts, once the individuals are identified they will be provided with the opportunity to settle for several thousand dollars. Alternative compliance methods, such as public apologies or service announcements have been arranged in some circumstance. The alternative is a $30,000.00 per violation lawsuit and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees. The latter is currently being tested in the judicial system.

“In the wake of the Grokster decision last June, online users should know people who steal movies using peer-to-peer software are not above the law. There are plenty of legal ways to get movies online and through other means, like pay per view or satellite,” said MPAA Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman.

Expecting P2P users who have grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle may have trouble adapting so readily to pay per view or satellite. Not simply because of the price, but the lack of community atmosphere associated with these methods. While “legal ways” to obtain films exist online, highly sought after Academy Awards nominated films simply do not. This lack of balance continues to drive the Internet populace to P2P and file-sharing networks despite the marginal risks.

This story is filed in these Slyck News categories
Legal/Courtroom :: Individual Lawsuits

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