Pirate Cinema Knoxville

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Pirate Cinema Knoxville vs. The Motion Picture Associaion of America

During a screening of "Live Free or Die Hard" on January 11, 2008 representatives from the Motion Picture Association of America served Pirate Cinema Knoxville with an order to cease-and-desist.

This action is one frequently filed by the MPAA to intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense so that they abandon their criticism or opposition.

This is known as a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation ("SLAPP").

"It was clear by the in-person appearance of an MPAA representative that the primary intention was to intimidate and threaten" an eyewitness said. "The 'piracy investigator' was really very nice to us, so I would hate to disparage him - but it was clear that the MPAA demanded he appear in person to make clear the authority they have and the very real possibility of police action in response to us. ... He was carrying a folder that said very clearly "The Fraternal Order of Police" on the front - and he described in detail how the bulk of his job consisted of criminal arrests."

"There were only five people in the audience - and the investigator had to drive from Nashville (three hours away!) on the orders of MPAA. This was clearly not an action to stop the potential loss of revenue - it was an action intimidate, threaten, and immediately stop our conversation."

Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation are prevented by the U.S. States of California and Tennessee, Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16 and corrections to the law as enacted in the Code of Civil Procedure § 425.17 - including "any action against any person or entity based upon the creation, dissemination, exhibition, advertisement, or other similar promotion of any dramatic, literary, musical, political, or artistic work, including, but not limited to, a motion picture or television program, or an article published in a newspaper or magazine of general circulation."

Pirate Cinema Knoxville is part of an ongoing discussion about rights and property. It is the position of Pirate Cinema that these are substantive issues, the discussion of which is socially significant and in the public interest.

In order to comply with the order enacted by the MPAA, Pirate Cinema Knoxville will suspend all screenings of artwork currently protected under copyright law.

"It seems clear that the Motion Picture Association of America has no interest in exploring alternatives to copyright. In order to continue the discussion at Pirate Cinema, we will resume Friday January 18 with screenings of artwork currently accessible in the public domain (both work available by a natural elimination of copyright restrictions, or intentionally labeled with an alternative right for information exchange - such as a Creative Commons license)."

The "Public Domain" comprises the body of knowledge and innovation (especially creative works such as writing, art, music, and inventions) in relation to which no person or other legal entity can establish or maintain proprietary interests within a particular legal jurisdiction. This body of information and creativity is considered to be part of a common cultural and intellectual heritage, which, in general, anyone may use or exploit, whether for commercial or non-commercial purposes.

As a central part of the right to copy, any work protected under copyright becomes part of the Public Domain after a certain time has passed. This law works in the public interest. There would currently be many more films in the Public Domain if not for the Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) of 1998. This act, known as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, effectively 'froze' the advancement date of the public domain in the United States.

Requiring the release of private rights into the Public Domain represents a compromise between the needs of an individual and the needs of the public.

Public interest is compromised by restrictions on the ability to act on common knowledge.

The MPAA works to prevent participation -
this is against the best interests of the public.

- Pirate Cinema Knoxville 1.16.2008

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+ The Oil of the 21st Century
+ 100 ANTI-THESES
+ A means of mutation Notes on I/O/D 4: "The Web Stalker"
+ TAUTOLOGICAL MANIFESTO OF THE MEDIA by www.o-o.lt
+ A CYBERPUNK MANIFESTO
+ THE DEAD MEDIA MANIFESTO
+ The DEAD MEDIA Project: A Modest Proposal and a Public Appeal
+ A HACKER MANIFESTO [version 4.0]
+ Bitch Mutant Manifesto
+ CYBERFEMINIST MANIFESTO FOR THE 21st CENTURY
+ Cinema and Revolution (1969)
+ A Cyborg Manifesto (1991)
+ In and Against Cinema (June 1958)
+ T. A. Z.The Temporary Autonomous Zone
+ The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier
+ What is Property? An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government
+ Expanded Cinema
+ FLUXUS MANIFESTO
+ the futurist cinema (15th november 1916)
+ Gibe's UNIX COMMAND Bible (1987)