Kahului firm set to take on Hollywood in trial
| • | MPAA steps up efforts to stop online pirates |
By Frank Cho
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Motion Picture Association of America will face trial July 8 on a Maui company's claim that the association illegally tried to shut down its operations as part of a misdirected campaign to stop online trading of movies, a growing concern in the film industry.
InternetMovies.com of Kahului said the association wrongfully accused it of distributing unauthorized copies of copyrighted motion pictures including "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," a movie that is not scheduled for release until December 2003.
The association, which represents all of the major movie studios, used a special search engine to search the Web for copyright movies.
"They falsely accused me of distributing movies," said Michael J. Rossi, owner of InternetMovies.com. It is sort of like a war is being waged on the Internet against consumers."
Rossi said his movie Web site promoted independent films and provided links to movie trailers on other sites, but did not distribute copyrighted movies itself.
Rossi said his company was forced to shut down after the movie association pressured his Internet Service Provider to cut off his service. According to Rossi's complaint, the ensuing temporary shut down had a negative effect on his business and the reputation of InternetMovies.com.
Rossi earlier this year sued the movie association for interference with contractual obligations, interference with prospective economic advantage, as well as libel and defamation.
"(Rossi) could not have been distributing copyrighted movies," said Jim Fosbinder, Rossi's attorney. "He did not have enough storage space to distribute a 20-second commercial much less a whole movie."
Fosbinder said the search software the movie association uses is flawed and he has been contacting a number of other companies that may have been unfairly targeted.
"We are looking into the possibility of a class-action suit, but there are not too many people out there eager to take on the movie studios," Fosbinder said.
Reach Frank Cho at 525-8088, or fcho@honoluluadvertiser.com.
