Girl That Recorded Movie Sues Theater

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Remember the girl that got arrested for filming a few small parts of Twilight on her cell phone during a birthday party? She’s suing the theater. Normally I’d be making fun of her for a frivolous lawsuit but this case isn’t your normal shaky-cam-crook story.

The woman filed suit Monday, claiming emotional distress and malicious prosecution on behalf of Muvico Theaters, whose manager allegedly demanded her arrest in a bid to win a financial reward. The MPAA, and the National Association of Theater Owners offers $500 rewards (.pdf) to movie-house workers who catch pirates.
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i hope she wins. completely ridiculous they even went through all that because of a cell phone vid. FAIR USE!
 
LOL @ the comments on that page. Even with the article on the same page, some of those idiots apparently did not RTFA and realized it was a theater rented out for a B-day party. And what do you do at a B-day party, whip out the camera.
 
Last month, I was interrupted twice to sign a waiver while recording a video of my daughter's dance recital in a college amphitheater. Apparently some of the music being used during her minute-long routine might be under copyright. Complete ridiculousness.
 
srangara said:
Last month, I was interrupted twice to sign a waiver while recording a video of my daughter's dance recital in a college amphitheater. Apparently some of the music being used during her minute-long routine might be under copyright. Complete ridiculousness.
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Should have told them to shove it.
OR that your plan was to strip the audio, pass it through a super duper quad digital/analog amplifier wave reader audio cleaner with red blinking LEDs then upload it to your website so you can rake in the millions from Chinese hackers. ;)
 
Good, I hope she wins. Sounds like the theater owner was being a dick.
 
Movie theaters are filled with some of the largest concentration of mega douches on the planet in my opinion.
 
the-one1 said:
LOL @ the comments on that page. Even with the article on the same page, some of those idiots apparently did not RTFA and realized it was a theater rented out for a B-day party. And what do you do at a B-day party, whip out the camera.
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She didn't rent out a theater - she went into a normal showing with a group of friends and proceeded to sing happy birthday while filming it (you'll note no mention of a private rented out theater in the linked article). The noise attracted attention, and they then got caught directly filming the screen (she says she just wanted to record a few scenes of the movie such as 'her favorite actor taking his shirt off')
 
This will be a tough call if she was purposely recording a specific scene from the movie. If that is what she was doing, I hope the lawyer didn't get the girl's hopes up too high.
 
the-one1 said:
Should have told them to shove it.
OR that your plan was to strip the audio, pass it through a super duper quad digital/analog amplifier wave reader audio cleaner with red blinking LEDs then upload it to your website so you can rake in the millions from Chinese hackers. ;)
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Well, I can understand their concern over being sued nowadays and I just wanted them to shut up so I could get a halfway decent take for the grandparents.

This theater situation, though--it's not fear but opportunism. What's next for the MPAA? First lawsuits, then incentives, ... maybe hiring mercenaries to trash recording equipment?
 
Ualdayan said:
She didn't rent out a theater - she went into a normal showing with a group of friends and proceeded to sing happy birthday while filming it (you'll note no mention of a private rented out theater in the linked article). The noise attracted attention, and they then got caught directly filming the screen (she says she just wanted to record a few scenes of the movie such as 'her favorite actor taking his shirt off')
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http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/07/01/28529.htm

This is an old story from 3 years ago. You're right that they didn't rent it out, but they got a VIP section and were being festive for the b-day party. All in all, she should have been thrown out for being rowdy during *gasp* Twilight.
 
Antique US copyright laws that have been outpaced by modern technology.

The theater worker was only doing a job as instructed. He/she really isn't the problem. Perhaps the child's parents could have taught her what is appropriate to record. Piracy has become very commonplace. Many parents believe that music now comes from Limewire and have forgotten that it is a commodity sold in stores. I have been hired by 2 priests, and several Church administrators to help them use Limewire more effectively so apparently even the 10 commandments are outdated.

Get out and change the US law.

Cheers!
 
The suit claims that, once local officers took the woman to the station, they called the MPAA for guidance. The suit says the MPAA recommended destroying the footage and releasing her.
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Even the MPAA didn't want to press charges!
 
meh i find it impossible to sympathize with her
singing in a movie theater, recording a film, Twilight....
 
ShadowStriker said:
Even the MPAA didn't want to press charges!
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Good idea dropping the charges. It could be proved that "bounty hunting" by theater operators, unless properly licensed by states and various jurisdictions, is illegal according to the constitution. I vote for treble damages for the girl.
On another note, I wonder if such arcane mythos is proper for adolescent girls. Should have a higher restrictions. JMHO.
 
what is world turning too! yup I understand that they usually say turn off your cellphone before the movie begins, yet they stop doing this at the theatres and yes its the theatre responsibility to continue sending out the message otherwise peole are allowed to do what ever they want with their cellphones. A few shots at the movie just so she can watch a few clips to herself and some friends, whippy doo!
 
The Police said drop it. The MPAA said drop it. He refused.

He was an AssHat after $500. Plain and simple.

willyspuddle said:
Antique US copyright laws that have been outpaced by modern technology.

The theater worker was only doing a job as instructed. He/she really isn't the problem. Perhaps the child's parents could have taught her what is appropriate to record. Piracy has become very commonplace. Many parents believe that music now comes from Limewire and have forgotten that it is a commodity sold in stores. I have been hired by 2 priests, and several Church administrators to help them use Limewire more effectively so apparently even the 10 commandments are outdated.

Get out and change the US law.

Cheers!
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i hope the loser loses this suit and gets run over by a truck. and i hope she suffers for years before dying and suffering life in hell with all the lawyers.

why the hell do people go to theaters anyway?
 
92miata said:
i hope the loser loses this suit and gets run over by a truck. and i hope she suffers for years before dying and suffering life in hell with all the lawyers.

why the hell do people go to theaters anyway?
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I'm not sure. I ponder that thought all the time when I drive by a theater. They go in for about 2 hours, then they come out.I've never ventured into this thing called a theater to experience what it was all about. I mean, what are they doing in there? Eating? Playing basketball? Baking cakes?
I just don't know.
 
Going to theaters is a passtime that kept me sober yesterday. I actually went to eclipse. Not calling it a total unmitigated piece of crap, but something in that general area.
 
srangara said:
This theater situation, though--it's not fear but opportunism. What's next for the MPAA? First lawsuits, then incentives, ... maybe hiring mercenaries to trash recording equipment?
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Sounds like Italian/Russian mafia actions rather than those of a respectable American business.

Woah, I just made an oxymoron by accident.

This shit is rediculous. What's next? Islamic style punishmets? (e.g. cutting off your hands for "stealing" footage) :rolleyes:
 
gigaxtreme1 said:
Going to theaters is a passtime that kept me sober yesterday. I actually went to eclipse. Not calling it a total unmitigated piece of crap, but something in that general area.
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My fiance wants me to drag her to the theatre and pay to watch this shit. The things I do for the nookie...
 
gigaxtreme1 said:
Going to theaters is a passtime that kept me sober yesterday. I actually went to eclipse. Not calling it a total unmitigated piece of crap, but something in that general area.
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:eek:
I watched the first one out of choice.

I watched the second one because of a similar reason... lol

I refuse to watch the third. And it gets worse: I heard there's going to be two more????????
 
Call the RIAA and ASCAP, I bet she sang Happy Birthday without paying out performance royalties.
 
The MPAA is still out of control. :mad:

Normally I'm against lawsuits since they're usually frivolous, but I hope she wins this one.
 
willyspuddle said:
I have been hired by 2 priests, and several Church administrators to help them use Limewire more effectively so apparently even the 10 commandments are outdated.

Get out and change the US law.
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Funniest thing I've read this year!

TexUs said:
:eek:
I refuse to watch the third. And it gets worse: I heard there's going to be two more????????
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And who knows, maybe more. The author's writing another book.

The films are such money makers that the main three actors (playing Bella/Edward/Jacob) will now each be making $25 million per movie while taking an additional 7% of the movie's box office take. So, roughly $50+ million per actor. Yikes!


Of course that $50+ mill is nothing in comparison to the $500 the douche in the story was after.
 
Nice job I hope she sticks it to them good. Freakin clowns.
 
willyspuddle said:
I have been hired by 2 priests, and several Church administrators to help them use Limewire more effectively so apparently even the 10 commandments are outdated.
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My ex-gf's aunt is a nun living at a convent. She would bring us a stack of store-bought cds and ask us to make like 10 copies of each one to share with the other nuns (exact copies, not ripped to mp3)

When an entire CONVENT thinks that piracy isn't the same as stealing, then the MPAA/RIAA really is just a lost cause
 
For once I agree with the MPAA. Can we arrest the Theater Manager for malicious motive with intent to pan handle?
 
How about a $500 bounty to turn in every asshat that turn on their bright phones in the middle of a dark theater? I'd support that! I have zero sympathy for this girl, just due to that fact alone, sorry!
 
rusty12 said:
Movie theaters are filled with some of the largest concentration of mega douches on the planet in my opinion.
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You don't work in a movie theater past age 30... unless you didn't get laid enough in highschool :)
 
I don't see why it was necessary to handcuff her and jail her for such minor offense. It probably should have gone down the same way as the first case mentioned in the article, fine her.

That said, she's not innocent either, everyone needs to obey the rules, if it says no recording, then it means no recording, whether its 80mins or 80second, she cannot simply exempt herself from the rules just because she likes that particular scene or whatever BS reason.
 
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