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Title: Batoru rowaiaru (Battle Royale)
Tags: Desert Island / Good Versus Evil
Date: January 12 2008 - 7PM
MPAA = SCREENING CANCELLED
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").
Lawsuits of this kind 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."
It is the position of Pirate Cinema that issues of property and copy
rights 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.
Pirate Cinema Knoxville will resume Friday January 18 with screenings
of artwork currently in the Public Domain.
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.
This law works for 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