Paramount Cracks Down on “The Godfather” Pirates, After 44 Years

[Batu69]

The all-time classic The Godfather is not too far away from its 50 year anniversary, but that doesn't mean Paramount Pictures is letting people pirate the movie without consequences. Over the past several months the movie studio has sent warnings targeting alleged pirates, including a mention of a potential lawsuit.

 

Like many other Hollywood studios, Paramount Pictures sees online piracy as a major threat to its revenues.

Torrent sites such as The Pirate Bay and KickassTorrents represent a thorn in the side and the company is doing everything in its power to limit the damage.

 

For Paramount this includes tracking down and warning individual users of these sites. Generally speaking, rightsholders monitor people who share recent blockbusters or TV-shows, but there are exceptions.

 

TorrentFreak has learned that the Hollywood studio started sending takedown notices targeting Internet subscribers whose accounts were used to download and share the 1972 classic The Godfather.

 

With help from its anti-piracy partner IP-Echelon the studio is contacting ISPs, asking the companies to “disable” the copyright infringements and make sure that their subscribers stop sharing the film.

 

“We are requesting your immediate assistance in removing and disabling access to the infringing material from your network. We also ask that you ensure the user and/or IP address owner refrains from future use and sharing of Paramount materials and property,” the letter reads, listing the technical details.

 

 

In addition, Paramount urges the ISP not to destroy any data such as IP-address logs, even if the retention period has expired. The movie studio mentions that this data may be required if a lawsuit is filed at a later stage.

 

“In complying with this notice, [ISP] should not destroy any evidence, which may be relevant in a lawsuit, relating to the infringement alleged, including all associated electronic documents and data relating to the presence of infringing items on your network, which shall be preserved while disabling public access, irrespective of any document retention or corporate policy to the contrary.”

 

The lawsuit mention may cause some file-sharers to panic, but is likely little more than a mafia-inspired threat. Paramount is generally not known to file cases against individual file-sharers, even though it has sent out many similar takedown notices in the past.

 

In fact, many Hollywood studios and other rightsholders send out similar letters, such as HBO with recent episodes of Game of Thrones. That said, the Godfather notice is by far the “oldest” we have seen, which makes it record-worthy.

 

Article source

[steven36]

Sounds like there about 44 years to late

 

Quote

 

1970s – 1980s

1979 ushered the age of home video recording through VHS tapes. Pirates were making big money from selling unauthorized VHS copies of copyrighted material. Throughout the 1980s, bumpers were issued to separate the authentic copies from the pirated ones. To illustrate, RCA/Columbia VHS cassettes featured a red spine bearing the message “If it isn’t red, it isn’t real.” In 1986, the famous Betamax case awarded Sony the right to manufacture VCRs as “devices were sold for legitimate purposes and had substantial non-infringing uses.”

 

1990s

Piracy went online as pirates opted to get physical (through DVDs, VCDs, etc.), digital or both. In 1999, Napster provided a way for users to share digital information for free, including copyrighted material. The Napster sensation was short-lived when the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) filed a lawsuit against its founders. Eventually, in 2001, Napster was dissolved, but it became known as the “godfather of peer-to-peer programs.”

 

The Digital Age

Following Napster’s digital free information creation, file sharing sites all over the internet emerged. Thus, through P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing, pirates found another channel to distribute unauthorized content. How did copyright industries respond?

https://copyrightcollectionsltd.com/the-evolution-of-movie-piracy/

 

 

[David]

32 minutes ago, steven36 said:

Sounds like there about 44 years to late

 

 

 

im selling my VHS tape for profit now !!! XD

[luisam]

Recently trashed some "classic" Betamax cassettes recorded in early 80s and I remember had copies of  "Godfather II" and "Last Tango in Paris". Guess were not "originals";. No one wanted them, not even for free.

[vibranium]

2 hours ago, luisam said:

Betamax cassettes

 

You'd have trouble playing them. Ah, those were the days, format wars.

 

[Rok]

11 hours ago, steven36 said:

Sounds like there about 44 years to late

 

 

Or, another say, Better late than never.

[luisam]

7 hours ago, vibranium said:

 

You'd have trouble playing them. Ah, those were the days, format wars.

 

Funny to say, but actually I shouldn't have any trouble to play them because I have a 100% functional Betamax VCR, a real vintage device! But also I have a Blu-Ray player and cable TV and really I can't find much pleasure and entertainment watching old, bad quality betamax movies. Mostly use Betamax player to wacth some old family recordings.