" Ceased and Desist " Notice from MPAA

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Video CD : One Thread

We, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), are regret to inform you that you have infringed the copyrights laws under our Copyright Act of 1976 - Optical Disc Piracy. Under the Copyright Act of 1976 - Optical Disc Piracy, the MPA supports the introduction of effective measures to control the spread of optical disc piracy, such as licensing requirements for optical disc manufacturing facilities and the tracking of the import and export of manufacturing equipment.

MPA has always undertook strict measures in ensuring that our movie industry are protected from any form of piracy which will affect the intellectual property of any relevant parties in concern.

We have located through buy & sell VCD/DVD Forum at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard and have thus carried out an investigation into the contents of your website forum.

The outcome of our investigation evidences the fact that your website is found to be retailing in pirated items of DVD format.

This email is being sent to you as a warning letter and demand you to shut down your website within one week notice with effect from 2nd August 2003. This is an " Ceased and Desist Notice " issue out to you.

In event where your website is still being hosted by your hosting company beyond 10th of August 2003, we will not hesitate but to take legal actions against you as well as your hosting company.

Note that :

MPA operates anti-piracy programs in 13 countries in the Asia/Pacific region. The predominant piracy threat in this area is optical disc piracy. Millions of illegal optical discs are being produced in the region and this pirated product is quickly spreading to other parts of the world. In 2000, approximately 17 million pirate optical discs (predominantly VCDs) were seized in this region alone. Recently, illegal DVDs have been produced and distributed as well. The connection of organized crime to pirate syndicates in this part of the world makes battling optical disc piracy ever more difficult, and dangerous. Notable hubs for optical disc piracy in Asia/Pacific include Malaysia and Taiwan. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) identifies Malaysia as a major producer and supplier of pirated video compact discs (VCDs) to the region and throughout the world. Despite several concrete measures adopted in the past year to reduce the piracy levels, including the passage of new optical disc legislation and numerous raids on street vendors who sell pirated goods, Malaysia continues to be a hub for international piracy. In particular, Malaysia has done little to address wholly inadequate criminal enforcement against copyright infringers. Copyright theft is considered lightly by the courts, and violators are often sentenced to misdemeanors.

Under federal law, maximum sentences of such convicted activities can be up to five years in jail and/or a $250,000 fine. Both laws also provide for copyright owners to seek civil damages.

-- Motion Picture Association of America (hotline@mpaa.org), August 01, 2003.

-- Motion Picture Association of America (hotline@mpaa.org), August 01, 2003

Answers

Since this posting was made from India (ip105-21.cbn.net.id), I'm pretty sure it's bogus. I'd also expect that a cease-and-desist notice should come by mail, or at least e-mail.

Also note that my policy is to delete posts related to buying, selling, or downloading pirated movies. If you see any that you think should be deleted, please e-mail me. Thanks.

-- Russil Wvong (russilwvong@yahoo.com), August 01, 2003.


The only comments I have are that "ceased" in "ceased and desist" is not correct grammatically, which makes me wonder how authentic this is and that I have felt for a long time that the continual posting of people trying to sell stuff on this forum is a very bad idea.

-- Root (root@yahoo.moc), August 01, 2003.

Authentic Cease and Desist notices will come by US Mail, not e-mail. They check Network Solutions' Whois database to obtain the administrative address for the domain name (the .com, .org, whatever) and send the notice there. If you want more information check out www.chillingeffects.org, which catalogs authentic letters and explains your rights.

-- Informed Visitor (everhearof@anonomys.com), September 15, 2003.

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