The war on piracy rages on in New York City today. It appears the city is beefing up fines for those that videotape at the picture shows. We get the news from Variety:
Gotham city council passed new legislation Thursday that will increase fines for illegally videotaping films in theaters from $250 to $5000 and provide up to six months jail time for repeat offenders.
In addition, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who supports the bill, has tasked his administration to boost efforts through undercover investigations and inspections, documenting trademark infringements, and using nuisance abatement law to hold accountable the owners of buildings where movies are duped and sold.
This sucks for people that video tape films in the theaters, but then again bringing a video camera into a movie theater has never been a wise idea. I have never seen this happen, If I were a gambling man I would guess that it is theatre employees that make dupes. They have the time to set up and prepare equipment when matinees are dead.
Going to jail for 6 months is a little harsh, but it seems to be a sentence reserved for repeat offenders. So if you get caught – It might be a good idea to hang up the camera.
I never saw what the appeal was for video duped films in the first place. The quality always seems shitty and sometimes you can hear people talking. I know some people are able to overlook the quality issues so they can see the film asap, but for me I would rather wait till dvd release if I was unable to catch it in the theater.
