Netflix, Amazon, and Hollywood Studios Shut Down Dragon Box (arstechnica.com) 54
The entertainment industry has shut down Dragon Media Inc.'s "Dragon Box" device, which connects to TVs and lets users watch video without a cable TV or streaming service subscription. According to Ars Technica, the company has "agreed to shut down the Dragon Box services and pay $14.5 million in damages to plaintiffs from the entertainment industry." From the report: Dragon Media was sued in January 2018 by Netflix, Amazon, Columbia Pictures, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Bros. Dragon Media's lawyer initially predicted that the lawsuit would backfire on the entertainment industry, but the Dragon Box maker must have decided it had little chance of winning at trial. The plaintiffs and defendant filed a proposed settlement Monday at U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The settlement requires Dragon Media to "cease all operation of the Dragon Box system" and related services within five days. Under the settlement, "[j]udgment shall be entered against Defendants and in favor of Plaintiffs on Plaintiffs' claims of copyright infringement, and damages shall be awarded to Plaintiffs in the amount of U.S. $14,500,000," the document says. Dragon Media, Dragon Media owner Paul Christoforo, and reseller Jeff Williams "[s]hall be further enjoined from operating any website, system, software, or service that is substantially similar to the Dragon Box service," the settlement says. The settlement also prohibits the defendants from making its source code or other technology available to others.
The settlement requires Dragon Media to "cease all operation of the Dragon Box system" and related services within five days. Under the settlement, "[j]udgment shall be entered against Defendants and in favor of Plaintiffs on Plaintiffs' claims of copyright infringement, and damages shall be awarded to Plaintiffs in the amount of U.S. $14,500,000," the document says. Dragon Media, Dragon Media owner Paul Christoforo, and reseller Jeff Williams "[s]hall be further enjoined from operating any website, system, software, or service that is substantially similar to the Dragon Box service," the settlement says. The settlement also prohibits the defendants from making its source code or other technology available to others.
What was this? (Score:4, Interesting)
Was this just another box that streams torrents off the net and pretends that it was legal?
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It Was Far More Than A Torrent Streamer (Score:5, Funny)
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That clip was awesome! It's like an over the top, one man army 80's action flick but with more modern camera angles & slow-fast-mo clips. I never gave Bollywood movies much thought because everyone I watched for a bit was about some guy I dressed in gold singing to some girl, but I think I'll have to check them out after seeing this. I kid you not!
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Indeed it was. That was probably one of the best bitch slaps I've seen on film. I will have to think about giving Bollywood movies a better chance. I really couldn't take that fight scene seriously, but I have the feeling that I wasn't supposed too. That being said I was far more entertained watching that few minutes that all the Hollywood dreck that has come out last year.
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This is simply amazing. Black Panther and Aquaman better watch out.
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Re: What was this? (Score:2, Interesting)
It was legal, thatâ(TM)s the problem
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Pretty much. Though more accurately they tried to pretend that providing hardware and software to do while charging a fee for the same was legal.
Did they honestly think their defense ("Honest Your Honor - the customer pushes the buttons to activate our systems, it's Not Our Fault") was gonna fly? How do people this clueless manage to walk and breathe at the same time?
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I'm not sure they where that clueless. Their business motto was probably along the lines of, "Lets toss this out there and milk the masses for as much free money as we can before they shut us down." I doubt any one, other than those that bought it, though that this was legal.
Settle this? (Score:2)
Dragon Media's lawyer initially predicted that the lawsuit would backfire on the entertainment industry, but the Dragon Box maker must have decided it had little chance of winning at trial.
"Hmmmm," thought the lawyer. "If we sue, people will get mad at us, and pirate more, leading to a bigger settlement from Dragon Box."
Who at DB thought this strategy might work?
Re:Settle this? (Score:5, Insightful)
There's no indication that anyone at DB actually believed they could win. You can't take a lawyer's public statement as representative of what he's saying to his client or what the client himself thinks.
If I were to hazard a guess, I suspect the people behind this were gambling that they could fly under the radar screen long enough to make a quick buck then close up shop. It's not like it takes a lot of up front investment to throw open source software onto a commodity set top box and then point it at some servers tracking pirated content.
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No, because it implies all investment is worthless and only labor is worth anything. It really is a horrible analogy. In such a world capital would be worth next to nothing.
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Just like a plumber gets $1 every time a toilet he installed gets flushed and electricians get 10 cents every time a circuit they installed is used. What? No? Weird. Some people have to continue to work to get paid? Unreal.
I wonder if after you retire you would be happy if your 401k went to $0 and/or your pension vanished. Because that is what would happen in a world where previous investment was worthless and continued work was the only way to make income.
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Because artists can't put money in a 401K?
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Because artists can't put money in a 401K?
You missed the point. The OP was implying that movie studios and other investors in movies shouldn't get royalties and other ongoing payments because they aren't performing any actual work after the movie is created. This is essentially the same as saying you shouldn't get dividends from stock you own because you aren't performing any actual work.
So if this is how the world worked, the artist could put money in a 401k but it wouldn't matter because capital is worthless. Only labor would be worth anything. I
Re: More free stuff please! (Score:1)
Your analogy sucks balls. Hopefully you knew that because if not you are one dumb fuck.
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Your analogy sucks balls. Hopefully you knew that because if not you are one dumb fuck.
The OP implied movie investors should not get paid royalties because they aren't doing any actual work after the movie is produced.
I compared that to the dividends and other returns you would get from your 401k, in which the 401k investment is analogous to the investment of producing a movie.
How exactly does the analogy fall apart? If you don't think movie producers should continue to make money on their investment for years/decades after their initial investment, why should a 401k investor?
Second Verse Same As The First (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: Second Verse Same As The First (Score:2)
I, too, remember that time. The golden age of file sharing! A great flowering of culture, a time when technology really did increase human happiness.
Then the spirit of freedom was crushed under the iron boot of the State, the old norms of class division and cultural impoverishment restored, that the few might again benefit at the expense of the many.
I do my part (Score:1)
I mark the "watch anything for free" boxes on my local CL as prohibited :p
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Wow, Marvel should base their next big comic book on you.
Yeah, they could call me "looking for a fridge guy"
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They were shutting down Kodi boxes being sold that had addons already installed pointing to copyrighting material.
Even the Kodi folks were pushing for those boxes to be shut down or at least to have their trademarked name removed from the listing.
summary sucks (Score:3, Insightful)
Every PC that has been connected to a TV has let the users watch video without a cable TV or streaming service subscription.
Your summary sucks slashdot.
Wait what who? (Score:2)
Is this the same rampaging jackass Paul Christoforo of the PAX twitter from 2012??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
https://www.engadget.com/2011/... [engadget.com]
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Wow.
https://www.penny-arcade.com/r... [penny-arcade.com]
https://www.penny-arcade.com/r... [penny-arcade.com]
Gotta love Penny Arcade - " I will personally burn everything I’ve made to the fucking ground if I think I can catch them in the flames.". And its true!
Nice to know that he stopped being mean to people via E-mail and started to make an automated-content-theft device. Really turned that one around.
Locast (Score:2)
Check out Locast.org
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/0... [nytimes.com]
They have an app for streaming local TV. Claim it's legal since they are a nonprofit and don't allow transmission beyond the local broadcast area.
Should be interesting to watch.