MPAA statement on MovieTube decision

For Immediate Release
November 24, 2015

MPAA Statement on MovieTube Decision

Washington, D.C. – A Federal Court judge in New York today granted a permanent injunction and final judgment in the Motion Picture Association of America member companies’ lawsuit against the operators of the MovieTube ring of websites, shutting down the sites, awarding the plaintiffs $10.5 million in damages and transferring the domains to the plaintiffs. The following is a statement by Dean Marks, Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Chief, Global Content Protection of the MPAA:

“The MPAA’s member companies filed a civil suit in July against the operators of a ring of websites called MovieTube whose explicit purpose was to distribute stolen copies of the latest motion pictures and television shows without compensating the people who worked so hard to make them. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the sites were taken down by their operators. By shutting down these illegal commercial enterprises we are protecting not only our members’ creative work and the hundreds of innovative, legal digital distribution platforms, but also the millions of people whose jobs depend on a vibrant motion picture and television industry. This court order will help ensure the sites stay down and are not transferred to others for the purposes of continuing a piracy operation on a massive scale.”

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About the MPAA
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) serves as the voice and advocate of the American motion picture, home video and television industries from its offices in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Its members include: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures; Paramount Pictures Corporation; Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.; Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; Universal City Studios LLC; and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

For more information, contact:

MPAA Washington, DC
Howard Gantman
(202) 293-1966
Howard_Gantman@motionpictures.org