Los Angeles – Movie studios represented by the Motion
Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced on Monday that they have filed
a copyright infringement lawsuit against Zediva, a start-up offering consumers
online streaming of DVDs before they become available on digital services.
The
studios call Zediva’s claim to be operating legally because it
"rents" individual DVD discs on players at its headquarters and
streams them to consumers a "sham."
"Zediva illegally streams
movies to its customers without obtaining required licenses from the movie
studios, in violation of the studios’ right to ‘publicly perform’ their
works," the MPAA said in a statement.
"Zediva’s mischaracterization
of itself is a gimmick it hopes will enable it to evade the law and stream movies
in violation of the studios’ exclusive rights," said Dan Robbins, senior
vice president and associate general counsel for the MPAA.
"Courts have
repeatedly seen through the façade of this type of copyright-avoidance scheme,
and we are confident they will in this case too."
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(DMW previous coverage)
