Last April, the kind folks over at the Motion Picture Association of America filed a cease and desist order against InternetMovies.com as they believed the website was distributing major motion pictures over the internet that haven’t been released yet, including the third film in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, “The Return of the King.” But according to Michael J. Rossi, the website’s owner, InternetMovies.com has never distributed unauthorized copywritten material, nor has it ever intended to. Rossi set up the site to keep movielovers informed of what’s going on within the industry as well as provide links to all of the latest movie trailers. Rossi also claims that having his site temporarily shut down “had a negative effect on the business proceedings and reputation of InternetMovies.com.” So in response, Rossi filed a lawsuit against the MPAA on April 25, 2002. The allegations against the MPAA include interference with contractual obligations, interference with prospective economic advantage, as well as libel and defamation. A trial date has been set for July 8, 2003.
Now that InternetMovies.com is up and running again, Rossi is asking for filmmakers to post their own films on the site. InternetMovies.com has come up with a solution to provide films films for its members while protecting copyrights, preventing piracy, and compensating the artists.
A royalty sharing system will compensate the filmmakers for their work. Also, the website is offering a digitally encoding service that will prevent theft of the material.
For more information, visit the InternetMovies website.
