News

Movie studios sue Zediva for copyright violations

April 4, 2011

Six Hollywood movie studios are suing Zediva, an Internet movie-rental company, citing copyright violations. However, the suit came as a surprise to Zediva officials, who said they just found out yesterday about the lawsuit via online press release.

"Given that we just found out about it, we are currently reviewing it and don't have a further response at this time," wrote Kenn Durrence in an email query sent to media@zediva.com by Kiosk Marketplace.

Since its official launch in March, the company has been circumventing the 28-day delay put on new releases to keep companies, including redbox and Netflix, from dispensing the newest films to customers.

Zediva officials claim they are not violating any laws because they buy physical copies of the movies, tying the Internet streaming of each movie to a physical DVD and player kept at its data center in Silicon Valley. Zediva charges $1 to $2 for each movie.

According to a story by the Associated Press, the movie studios disagreed. Through their trade group, the Motion Picture Association of America, they filed suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleging that parent companies WTV Systems Inc., WTV Systems LLC and CEO Venkatesh Srinivasan infringed on their copyrights.

Specifically, lawyers for the MPAA argued that the transmission over the Internet of movies like "Black Swan" and "Hereafter" constitutes a "public performance"—for which an operator like Zediva would need a specific license, according to the AP.

The MPAA's members—Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Entertainment, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures, Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox, Comcast Corp.'s Universal Pictures and Walt Disney Co.'s Disney Studios — have asked that the site be shut down and ordered to pay monetary damages that could reach millions of dollars.

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