AfterDawn: News

MPAA sues Peekvid and YouTVPC

Today, the MPAA filed a lawsuit against both YouTVPC and Peekvid hoping to crack down on websites that allow users to view streaming TV shows and movies for free.

Although both sites provide access to some of the most popular movies and TV shows available, they do so by linking to other sites where the content is actually stored and do not host anything themselves. Both sites claim to do nothing illegal.



As the sites have grown in popularity, the MPAA has been keeping closer watch. Peekvid currently has over 50,000 unique visitors per day while YouTVPC pulls in just over 5,000 a day. Unfortunately for them, both sites are based in the US and are now an easy legal target for the MPAA.

In a statement, the MPAA added that both sites "profit handsomely from a seemingly endless stream of third-party advertising pitches" mostly provided by reputable companies like Google and Yahoo and so this lawsuit seems more about how the sites profit from what they do then the actual content, which is not hosted in the US.

As Peekvid says, it "does not contain any content on its site, but is merely an index of available links on the Internet. Peekvid is committed to an industry solution that will provide a mechanism to compensate artists that create the work you enjoy watching. Peekvid would like to be part of the long-term solution."

Source:
Arstechnica

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 27 Jun 2007 16:16

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• 12 comments

• borhan9

  This should be interesting as in if the us brings in that law that affected AfterDawn as in posting links are not allowed as in to torrents and illegal sites.

  27.6.2007 19:01 #1

• Blackjax

  When are the MPAA morons going to learn. I can see the meeting now a bunch of twits in suits stomping their feet and crying "It's not fair, it's not fair! Why didn't we think of it!!"
  
  Sounds to me like the site is interested in giving the consumer what they want and wanting to help the artist. Oh wait that fly's in the face of the greedy execs doesn't it?!

  28.6.2007 00:21 #2

• georgeluv

  yes, lets force jobs OUT of america, good job mpaaa. oh yeh i forgot you actualy dont give a shit despite usuing the job argument as one of your biggest anti-file sharing talking points, as evidenced by the fact that a huge portion of your movies are now filmed in canada.
  
  just so you know, TORONTO NETHER LOOKS LIKE NEW YORK OR L.A., STOP EXPORTING JOBS! YOUR WORK WILL BE MORE AUTHENTIC.

  28.6.2007 06:05 #3

• scors

  Originally posted by georgeluv:yes, lets force jobs OUT of america, good job mpaaa. oh yeh i forgot you actualy dont give a shit despite usuing the job argument as one of your biggest anti-file sharing talking points, as evidenced by the fact that a huge portion of your movies are now filmed in canada.
  
  just so you know, TORONTO NETHER LOOKS LIKE NEW YORK OR L.A., STOP EXPORTING JOBS! YOUR WORK WILL BE MORE AUTHENTIC.I would love to point out the fallacy of the argument about exporting jobs, but in terms of the movie industry preferring to film in Canada that may be a moot point soon. The US dollar is cratering relative to the Canadian dollar, so the cost advantage that Canada once had is being eroded, and soon enough, the US will be the low cost alternative.

  28.6.2007 13:22 #4

• tin23uk

  never been on either of the sites but my guess would be that this is an advertising issue, they may be linking to video contents that comes from legal sites but if they are not a link to the webpage where the video is legal then that makes the advertising that allows the video to be free useless. like i said i may be wrong iv never been on the sites, i hope they offered the sites an easy way out first, like just asking politely that they remove the links to video content and replace them with links to the webpage hosting the legal vid, i think a lawsuit is a little harsh as it is an easy mistake to make. then again we are talking about the MPAA so it probably has absolutely nothing to do with advertising in which case i dont think the MPAA will have a leg to stand on in court, oops my bad they offer the judges lots of nice gifts before heading into court.
  
  the best i have found while searching around was a site that hosted the real men of genius radio commercials from budweiser, the owner had to remove the mp3's and replace them with the lyrics after he recieved certified letters from anheiser busch saying if he didnt remove them they would seek legal action, this really doesnt make much sense seeing as they are advertisements for budweiser so the guy was really doing them a favour.

  28.6.2007 16:02 #5

• thekingo7

  Has anyone here even tried peekvid? Its terrible. Half the time the movies are down, and when they are working. The quality is like a five year old on a trampoline is filing the movie.

  28.6.2007 17:22 #6

• DXR88

  Hey AOL Your next on the MPAA Hit List i Mean There Go's Winamp tv sevices. i just dont under stand what all the fuse is about I mean come on theres got to be some kind of mutual agreement on the Both sides i mean like okay peakvid and youtvpc teel you what will give you some moveis to list and you throw in some advertizement to keep your site on the web Wether or not the Movie mafiaa knows it or not it takes money to keep a site up and that money comes from advertizement but then again not every body has silk pockets with 24 k gold outlines.

  28.6.2007 21:01 #7

• plazma247

  I agree with Blackjax, however they can see that people have made revenue by having low quality steamed content.
  
  Why doesnt a movie house just allow streaming of say all movies over 10 years old that they make little revenue out of now and allow them to be watched/streamed for free and then make the money back out of ads.
  
  Its a proven model and would allow them to make revenue from those films that they have problems getting the tv networks to pay for.
  
  They when/if it gets a good user base the could then expand a pay for membership to access more recent content.
  
  The company that did would lead the way in IP TV and say in 3 years could be leading the game.
  
  Just a though.

  29.6.2007 00:58 #8

• EvilDeeds

  scors : "The US dollar is cratering relative to the Canadian dollar, so the cost advantage that Canada once had is being eroded, and soon enough, the US will be the low cost alternative."
  
  Think losing US jobs is bad, try having the pound... I am not a currency expert but I don't think anywhere else is as expensive to run in than the good ol' UK! :)
  
  plazma247 : "The company that did would lead the way in IP TV and say in 3 years could be leading the game. Just a though."
  
  That would imply these guys had half a brain and the gift of vision!! :) Unfortunately, they are dumb minions of a dark evil overlord! :)

  29.6.2007 02:41 #9

• frankacne

  The MPAA and the RIAA are a nasty bunch of Greedy triple-chinned pinks in shiny arsed suits living off the fat of everyone elses talents, telling porkies about how everyone else is wrong. They live in a masturbatory fantasy of their own creation and get hard ons when they think of ever bigger rake offs. The sooner they suffocate in their own shite, the sooner that true creativity, artistry and enterprise will be freed from the shackles imposed by these parasites.

  29.6.2007 14:45 #10

• tin23uk

  Originally posted by frankacne:The MPAA and the RIAA are a nasty bunch of Greedy triple-chinned pinks in shiny arsed suits living off the fat of everyone elses talents, telling porkies about how everyone else is wrong. They live in a masturbatory fantasy of their own creation and get hard ons when they think of ever bigger rake offs. The sooner they suffocate in their own shite, the sooner that true creativity, artistry and enterprise will be freed from the shackles imposed by these parasites.yeah, what he said

  30.6.2007 15:46 #11

• Chris_TV

  History has shown that MPAA-files-lawsuit-future-is-grim/" target="_blank">Peekvid will lose.
  
  Its not the first case against infringing links and I doubt it will be the last

  3.7.2007 05:33 #12