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We started selling Hard to Find movies back in 1995. Of course back then the media was VHS tape, and the Internet didn't exist. We sold our tapes at Star Trek conventions, and Comic Book conventions mostly. International laws, recognizing that the titles we sold were not available and that no one was trying to market them. It didn't hurt anyone and actually provided a service to the public; they provided a section within the Berne Copyright Convention, allowing for the distribution of materials that are not commercially available. "The Berne Act" Clearly states: films unreleased in the United States, including original versions of films altered and/or edited for release in the United States, are NOT protected by American copyright; thus, they are considered public domain. There was a Supreme Court ruling on this when the Church re-edited films (removing sexual content etc. ) and sold them to their congregations and this was deemed legal. With the expansion of the Internet the motion picture industry had a growing problem. Unlike the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which failed to learn anything from Napster, the MPAA had a legitimate concern. Movies were becoming available for download in increasing quality and with increasing ease as soon as they hit the theatres. Studios were spending more to produce movies then ever before and were beginning to see a serious threat from the bootleggers. Their solution was to throw a lot of money at Congress. While the Berne Copyright Convention still holds for most countries, in the United States (and I believe Canada) the year 2000 saw the adoption of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law so broad that interpreted literally even using your TiVo is a crime. The DMCA was basically a response to the growing ease of duplicating and transmitting digitally recorded media. It was written to stop the pirating by any means existing and attempted to protect against any technology that might be invented. Yet again, it is legal for the Church to do it. The MPAA also started attempting to mold public opinion with TV commercials and spots before movies, equating downloading movies to grand theft auto and the like. For the most part we see all these steps as positive. The studios have the right and obligation to take steps to protect its products and future. As we are old movie and old television programs junkies we also want to make sure that they are able to continue to produce fine films (and the ones we love as well.) Our only problem is that they made no distinction between the guy trying to make an almost forgotten, or long begged for, movie or television program available and the criminal mass producing newly released movies while they are still in the theatres. We sellers helped shape entire genres, like anime, bringing them to the people - building an audience and showing that a true commercial venture was viable. It has always been our contention that we act as what the business world calls "Point of Presence." We keep the item in people's minds and remind them that they liked it. And you can bet that almost anyone that pays for a TV-to-VHS-to-DVD conversion of their favorite old TV show WILL pay for the real thing just as soon as someone decides there is a market for it. Until then, who loses from the sale of the copy? Who benefits? The seller, the customer and I think the studio. For us the decision of what to sell comes down to: is anyone hurt by us selling this? WHAT WE SELL
WHAT WE NEVER SELL
THE GRAY AREA
And if we are wrong and you are officially involved with a title, and wish it removed from our site, again please send a cease and desist notification--with credentials, of course, along with the information necessary to contact you to the e-mail address listed. |
