"Stealing Movies is a Crime"
Show your support:
So says the MPAA...endlessly. Except when their members do it, it's not a crime, it's a
creative reinterpretation of a contract:
J.R.R. Tolkien sold movie rights to his "Lord of the Rings" novels 40 years ago for 7.5 percent of future receipts. Three films and $6 billion later, his heirs say they haven't seen a dime from Time Warner Inc.
...Under the contract, New Line was to pay a percentage of all gross receipts, after deducting 2.6 times the production costs, plus advertising expenses in excess of a certain amount, according to Eskenazi.
The heirs, including Tolkien's son, Christopher, 84, and his daughter, Priscilla, 80, say New Line inflated expenses and excluded revenue from its calculation, meaning the family "will never see any payment at all," according to the complaint. They also allege New Line allowed some documents to be destroyed.
So the next time you hear one of these self-appointed champions of copyright proclaim that tougher laws are needed -- and the next time you see their self-serving propaganda before a film you've paid to watch -- remember exactly how far their support for intellectual property, and payment for creative works, extends. Not an inch past their own pocketbooks.
Brad - Wednesday 15 July 2009 - 18:13:26 -
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