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Woman Sues Movie Theater After Getting Caught Recording 'Twilight'
Back in November, a moviegoer in Illinois was arrested and sent to jail for two days, after being caught trying to videotape segments of the latest 'Twilight' film on her digital camera. According to her team of lawyers, though, the movie theater is to blame for the entire thing.
The 22-year-old woman has now filed suit against the movie theater, claiming that the manager at the Muvico Theaters branch demanded her arrest, despite the fact that police were ready to drop charges. As Wired reports, the MPAA and National Association of Theater Owners jointly offer $500 rewards to any theater worker who catches a pirate red-handed. The suit, which seeks $50,000 in damages, claims that after police arrested her, they contacted the MPAA for consultation. According to prosecutors, the MPAA recommended releasing the pirate and destroying the footage, but the Muvico manager successfully convinced the authorities to pursue the case.
When law enforcement officials apprehended the woman, on her camera they found pictures of herself, her friends and her sister at the movie theater, as well as two clips from the 'Twilight' film. One clip was only 85 seconds long, while the other captured a full 114 seconds of the film. From what we can tell, no one forced this woman to record the film at gunpoint, but, considering how short the clips were, it doesn't seem like she was acting with malice, either -- which is probably why the MPAA recommended releasing her.
The more systemic issue, here, is whether or not these kinds of catch-a-thief incentives actually fuel frivolous arrests. We'll obviously have to wait and see whether or not this case holds any water in court, but, at first glance, the prosecution's argument certainly seems plausible. In the same way that speeding ticket quotas might encourage state troopers to adopt a more literal, black-and-white interpretation of the law, financial rewards for theater owners and managers could very easily make mountains out of legal molehills. Sure, piracy is piracy, and this woman was technically behaving outside of the law; however the punishment for petty pirates, as with any other small-time criminal, should always be contextualized. [From: Wired]
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Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsbama4hutJul 4th 2010 8:32PM
Don't do illegal things and you won't get arrested.
strider_mt2kJul 5th 2010 8:17AM
How about, I dunno...NOT ACTING LIKE A DOUCHE AT THE MOVIES???
Everyone knows this stuff is wrong and you aren't to do it.
If you did it ANYWAY then tough S if you got caught and someone wanted to take it as far as it can go.
Duh?
RadmanJul 5th 2010 1:27PM
It is the theater's property. They have ultimate say what goes on in the theater. I hate seeing glare from cellphones and cameras (both are the same now) while watching a movie. I would prefer a more draconian approach and would gladly attend a theater which practiced such tactics.
There is no incentive for making mountains out of molehills. From this very article it states. "the MPAA and National Association of Theater Owners jointly offer $500 rewards to any theater worker who catches a pirate red-handed. " The pirates were caught red handed. The award is theirs. Any MPAA incentive is nonexistent from this point on, especially when MPAA recommends dropping the charges.
I am grossly disgusted with the pushing for an arrest by the state mafia. Banning them from the theater temporarily or permanently would be well enough.