U.S. District Judge Michael B. Mukasey made a bunch of new friends earlier today by lifting the screener ban the MPAA imposed on movie studios in September. Mukasey sided with the independent film producers, who filed the lawsuit against the MPAA, saying “the screener ban will significantly harm independent films, thereby reducing the competition these films pose to major studio releases.”
Mukasey also wasn’t falling for the whole anti-piracy routine that the MPAA has stood by in their own defense, saying that he believes a bigger piracy threat comes from home video distribution where people are able to copy their VHS and DVDs and upload them to the Internet.
Not taking this lying down, the MPAA has said that it plans on appealing the decision within two weeks to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Until then, companies like Sony Classics, Miramax, Focus Features, as well as their parent studios have been freed up to send out screeners of their films for awards consideration.
Here’s to watching movies at home in the nude.
