AfterDawn: Tech news

That was fast: MPAA gets Zediva shut down, for good

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Oct 2011 6:15 User comments (22)

That was fast: MPAA gets Zediva shut down, for good Because the MPAA took down the service so quickly I doubt anyone here go to use it, I will first post a bit of history.
Zediva launched in January and has become very popular because it streamed new releases and did not have delay windows like Netflix and Redbox do for physical discs.

The company "rents" users a physical DVD player at Zediva and a DVD and allows them to control it via online streaming. What had helped the company become so popular was the prices of the movies. You could buy 10 streams for $10, including new releases. Zediva claimed to be legal and argued it did not need licenses because it is just like a brick-and-mortar rental company. When a customer rented a DVD, that physical DVD was then taken out of circulation, and the company did not create any digital copies.



In April, the MPAA set out on a crusade to shut the service down and they have now succeeded.

The MPAA argued that Zediva wasn't holding private exhibitions of its movies as it claimed but was instead infringing its "exclusive rights to perform their works publicly." The Judge agreed.

Zediva and the MPAA have reached a settlement this week and the site is shutting down, permanently. Zediva will pay $1.8 million in fees and close down, dropping their countersuit and appeal.

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22 user comments

128.10.2011 18:31

Wonder how many million MPAA paid the JUDGE????? A bunch maybe?

228.10.2011 19:52

LOL I was thinking the same thing

328.10.2011 19:53

another loss for innovation

428.10.2011 20:28

All I can say is I'm lucky to be 56.
I cannot imagine what is in store for the future.

It makes Baby Jebus cry.

Jeff

528.10.2011 21:04

sad day

628.10.2011 21:08

Don't worry, now that Blockbuster has started retaliating it's only a matter of time before everyone else follows suit. Their exploitation of ownership will soon come crumbling down.

728.10.2011 22:43

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
All I can say is I'm lucky to be 56.
I cannot imagine what is in store for the future.

It makes Baby Jebus cry.

Jeff

Lots and lots of piracy. I feel for the creative people who will lose out, but it cannot be helped.

828.10.2011 23:02

The creative people are getting butt rapped by the same people who are supposed to be looking out for their best interest.

You will see more indie films and music artist distancing themselves from the RIAA. Internet and/or out-of-the-trunk sales will become more commonplace

The RIAA has been messing with artists for a while trying to extend the longevity of contracts.

Excuse me while I dust off my old vinyl records.

Jeff

929.10.2011 02:50

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
The creative people are getting butt rapped by the same people who are supposed to be looking out for their best interest.

You will see more indie films and music artist distancing themselves from the RIAA. Internet and/or out-of-the-trunk sales will become more commonplace

The RIAA has been messing with artists for a while trying to extend the longevity of contracts.

Excuse me while I dust off my old vinyl records.

Jeff
If they support the RIAA or MPAA, then they deserve to get raped. I do feel sorry for those who refuse RIAA "support" and then still have to deal with the RIAA and MPAA issuing takedown notices against their trailers and music videos.

1029.10.2011 04:57

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
All I can say is I'm lucky to be 56.
I cannot imagine what is in store for the future.

It makes Baby Jebus cry.

Jeff

I can see why the MPAA won on this as this streaming would be breaking the T&C agreement on the DVD cover.

The problem with all this stuff is that it'll force people away from buying anything or even bothering about this content as you simply won't be able to view it anyway even if you did buy a copy.

I see in the US many people have stopped buying cinema tickets and hollywood companies cant seem to stop that or even reverse it, I don't think it's anything to do with the movies themselves but simply because of all the sueing and forced altering of the laws where everyone and anyone can be sued on sight without any legal backup at all.

It takes a real long time but people notice the court cases and the changes to the laws and what you can/can't do and it turns people away who might just go and see a movie or listen to some songs.

They are simply screwing themselves for the sake of trying to make more money.

Hulu and netflix will soon start to get problems even though they might have a license, it'll probably be found out people can record the streams and Hulu and netflix will be sued for allowing that to happen thus killing those companies, all because RIAA MPAA aren't getting more money.

These companies need to start reutilising they are simply content providers and nothing more.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 29 Oct 2011 @ 5:00

1129.10.2011 05:44

Originally posted by xtago:

Hulu and netflix will soon start to get problems even though they might have a license, it'll probably be found out people can record the streams and Hulu and netflix will be sued for allowing that to happen thus killing those companies, all because RIAA MPAA aren't getting more money.

...And then they will stop selling blurays and DVDs because they are easily ripped, and they will complain about their disk sales being low. As it is, they have already started selling blurays that refuse to play on older players...even players that are less than a year old in some cases...yet they are still easily ripped with a PC.

1229.10.2011 06:48

Constant FW updates for my LG Blu-Ray stand alone player which is ~ three years old. It has WiFi/J-45 connections for streaming and the latest condoms distributors employ on their disks. I'm not sure if it is possible to do with firmware updates but it wouldn't surprise me if one of the updates hasn't disabled the so-called component analog hole. Trying to find out what each of these updates do is nearly impossible. A work around is not updating then ripping the Blu-Ray.

Jeff

1329.10.2011 08:57

Originally posted by Jeffrey_P:
Constant FW updates for my LG Blu-Ray stand alone player which is ~ three years old. It has WiFi/J-45 connections for streaming and the latest condoms distributors employ on their disks. I'm not sure if it is possible to do with firmware updates but it wouldn't surprise me if one of the updates hasn't disabled the so-called component analog hole. Trying to find out what each of these updates do is nearly impossible. A work around is not updating then ripping the Blu-Ray.

Jeff


I use my 3.55 PS3 as a media player...I can't use my 3.73 system because the OFW media player doesn't play most file types. I can't watch new blurays because they are already making movies that won't work on firmware 3.55...so I've stopped buying new blurays...hmmm...I wonder if there is a way to use those perfectly legal torrent things to get these movies without DRM for free...I'll have to look into that...

1429.10.2011 09:39

Don't know KB.... but as you know legally you can make one backup of a disk. Of course you have to make an investment for a license(s) using AnyDVD and or DVDFab. Most people don't want to spend a lot of time rebuilding m2ts files so those two make sense.

Personally I would stay away from Torrents, but that's just me.

Jeff

1529.10.2011 11:05

I'm really not a pirate...I can go without...it will hurt them just as much as piracy and I won't be committing a crime. As for ripping movies, I know it is easily done...that is what pisses me off so much. The 'protection' doesn't stop piracy, but it does make playing legally purchased movies a PITA.

1629.10.2011 13:10

I'm with you Jeff, dust off the vinyl (sounds better anyway) & make an AVSHD of your bluray. I haven't plugged my LG bluray into the net for any such 'updates' as of yet myself, nor do I intend to either. It just seems to me to be another set of furthering complications to watch a movie that I freaking paid for. Similar to a situation with a game I paid for that I can't play do to the tightly wound DRM caca. I can't even get the game installed because the DRM won't install. Thus further cementing the discussion you & KB are having.

What pisses me off the most is you'd think the MPAA & RIAA act as though they are the soul proprietors of all this material they are defending. Then again, with a percentage of the take they are probably getting, there could be some truth to that.

1729.10.2011 13:37

I had a not so nice discussion with Digital River regarding their FOOBAR SecureROM.
The game kept losing the Request code. Basically I told them to take a hike.

The last game I purchased was Shift in 2009. I'm not a big gamer anyway but I enjoy auto racing sims from time to time.

Jeff

1831.10.2011 19:19

I find it interesting that somehow an ENCRYPTED transmission from ONE PC to ANOTHER PC constitutes a "public broadcast".

I am not surprised by this bull, but at some point, common sense has to leak in a bit.

1931.10.2011 19:20

I find it interesting that somehow an ENCRYPTED transmission from ONE PC to ANOTHER PC constitutes a "public broadcast".

I am not surprised by this bull, but at some point, common sense has to leak in a bit.

204.11.2011 01:26

Originally posted by ThePastor:
I find it interesting that somehow an ENCRYPTED transmission from ONE PC to ANOTHER PC constitutes a "public broadcast".

I am not surprised by this bull, but at some point, common sense has to leak in a bit.
Hardly the strangest thing the courts have said recently.

The good news of all this is that when law degrades to a certain point (a point quickly approaching), people simply disregard the law en mass and the corrupt laws become useless.

214.11.2011 11:01

GREED

224.11.2011 11:51

Once it is put in writing & repeated often enough; despite how ludicrous & false it may be, soon it becomes truth & the law of the land.

An alchemists wet dream. Where indeed BS does turn into gold.

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