Creative piracy: the movies are free, it's the DVD cases that cost money

By Nate Anderson

 

A small business in Florida recently tried a new twist on piracy: burn DVDs of in-theaters-now Hollywood films and give them away freely to customers who "donate" $5 for an empty DVD jewel case. Hey, it can't be illegal if people aren't paying for the actual movies! (Right?)

The business didn't last long, surviving for a few months in an Orlando shopping mall before an investigator for the MPAA tipped off police. They raided the shop earlier this month when the owner was away and seized a pair of computers, DVD burners, blank discs, and more.
According to the Orlando Sentinel:

Employees at nearby businesses said they didn't know the owner by name, but had seen him recently. They also noticed he posted a large sign on the front door stating movies there were free and were for promotional use only. Any monetary transactions were donations, the sign stated.

The 1709 Copyright Blog, which brought the story to our attention, notes that the store's alleged behavior was clearly illegal under federal law… but the Florida state statutes are a bit ambiguous when applied to this specific case.

A Florida case involving infringing CDs, rather than DVDs, suggests section (3)(a)1 might be applicable here. In that case, it was clear that the CDs themselves were for sale. If the court doesn’t allow the “I’m only selling the jewel cases” line to fly, then this provision could possibly be applicable. The real tricky thing here is that half of the provisions talk about sound recordings and half talk about performances. Neither term is defined and neither obviously covers movies.

Creative, in a rather stupid way—US copyright law gives copyright owners the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute works—but you have to admire the sheer audacity of the scheme.