MPAA Files Infringement Suits Against Two Websites

LOS ANGELES, September 28: The Motion Picture Association
of America (MPAA), on behalf of the major Hollywood movie studios, has filed
lawsuits in a Los Angeles federal court against Cinematube.net and
Ssupload.com, which the organization claims facilitate copyright infringement
on the Internet.

The MPAA maintains that Cinematube and Ssupload
“contribute to and profit from rampant copyright infringement by identifying,
posting, organizing, and indexing links to infringing content.” The sites
allegedly contain links to pirated features that are often still in theatrical
release, and sustain themselves via third-party advertising and user donations.
The MPAA estimates that Cinematube—believed to be operated by Georgia
resident Tien Tran—averages more than 24,000 unique users per day who
view more than 85,000 pages of content. Ssupload—whose servers are
located in Scottsdale, Arizona—averages an estimated 55,000 unique daily
visitors who view over 190,000 pages of content per day.

John Malcolm, the executive VP and director of worldwide
anti-piracy operations for the MPAA, commented: “No matter how you slice it,
the sole purpose of these sites is to disseminate and profit from creative
content that has been illegally reproduced and distributed. We will continue to
scour the Internet for these illegal sites, and through lawsuits such as these
we are putting illegal web operators on notice that they are not above the law
and will face serious consequences for their activities.”

The civil suits are seeking damages and injunctive relief
for violations under the United States Copyright Act of 1976. They follow three
lawsuits filed by the studios against similar sites earlier this summer:
Peekvid.com, YouTVpc.com and Showstash.com.

The MPAA says that the worldwide motion picture industry,
including foreign and domestic producers, distributors, theaters, video stores
and pay-per-view operators, lost $18.2 billion in 2005 as a result of
piracy—over $7 billion of which is attributed to Internet piracy and more
than $11 billion attributed to hard goods piracy including bootlegging and
illegal copying.