Magna Carta News
Sunday, March 14, 2004
Oklahoma House of Representatives
March 17, 2004
By MIKE W. RAY
House Media Division Director
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A measure to prevent "movie piracy" from occurring in Oklahoma was embraced Tuesday afternoon by the House Committee on Criminal Justice.
Senate Bill 1234 by Rep. John Carey and Sen. Jay Paul Gumm, both D-Durant, would prohibit the audiovisual recording of a movie "without the consent of the owner or lessee of the facility" where it is being shown, "and of the licensor of the motion picture..." A violator could be locked in a county jail for up to a year and/or fined as much as $10,000.
Carey said teenagers and young adults in some parts of the nation are being paid as much as $10,000 to $20,000 to enter movie theaters, tape record the latest films, burn copies onto CDs and sell them via the "black market" at flea markets or on street corners, or sell the "bootleg" pictures on the Internet. "Some of these kids are so brazen they even mount their cameras on tripods they set up in the theater," Carey told the House Committee on Criminal Justice.
The first-term legislator said he is not aware of any such incident having occurred in Oklahoma. However, the Motion Picture Association of America (M.P.A.A.) "wants to get out in front of this problem," he added.
"Time" news magazine reported earlier this year that, according to the M.P.A.A., more than 50 major movies were illegally copied and released last year -- even before they appeared in theaters. The M.P.A.A. estimates its losses from unauthorized copying of movies will climb as high as $5 billion next year, the "Time" article related.
The committee passed Senate Bill 1234 without dissent and referred it to the full House of Representatives.
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