Movie Studios to Start Filing Piracy Lawsuits

Hollywood studios plan to start filing lawsuits within two weeks against online movie pirates illegally offering films on file-sharing networks, officials said Thursday.

At a news conference at UCLA, new Motion Picture Assn. of America President Dan Glickman formally unveiled the industry’s hardball strategy, saying studios had no choice in their battle to stem the growing number of people swapping movies over the Internet.

“This was not an easy decision, but it must be done now,” Glickman said. “In Kansas, where I am from, we try to close the barn door before the horse gets out.”

Simon Barsky, the MPAA’s chief counsel, declined to specify targets, saying that any copyright violator could be sued.

The MPAA also announced an advertising campaign that stressed the “trafficking” of movies could result in fines as large as $150,000 per film.

The MPAA’s decision was lauded at the news conference by representatives of Hollywood guilds representing writers, actors and directors. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sent a written statement of support.

Studios have been considering lawsuits for more than a year. They held off, hoping that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals would side with them in a suit against the Grokster and Morpheus file-sharing networks. They also hoped the federal government would crack down on online piracy.

But the appeals court ruled against the studios, and the industry’s efforts in Washington bore no fruit.

Now, studios have little choice but to sue, said Los Angeles attorney Christopher S. Ruhland, a former senior counsel at Walt Disney Co.

“Anytime there is a law and there are no consequences to anybody in the country for breaking [it], then it’s kind of like not having a law,” he said.

Still, the lawsuits probably won’t reach the most sophisticated online offenders, who use private websites, chat rooms and obscure news groups to exchange newly released films.

That upper echelon of downloaders also has closer ties to commercial pirates, often supplying the raw material for bootlegged DVDs or posting the movies online.

The MPAA’s move follows the efforts of major record companies, which have sued more than 6,000 people since September 2003 over alleged illegal file sharing. More than 1,200 of the defendants have agreed to pay about $3,000 each to settle the claims out of court.

Although some analysts and file-sharing advocates contend that the tactic hasn’t stopped millions of people from downloading music illegally, record industry executives claim that the suits are helping to bring rampant online piracy under control.

Legitimate outlets for online music also have grown rapidly in the last year, suggesting that at least some of the people using file-sharing networks are willing to pay for downloads.

By contrast, the major Hollywood studios have granted licenses to only three online services. But the movies are offered under such restrictive terms that the services haven’t been able to attract many users.