Movie and Broadcasting Companies Take Legal Action Against iCraveTV

It seemed so simple at first. The idea was to webcast broadcast television programming over the Internet. The Toronto, Canada webcaster, iCraveTV (http://www.icravetv.com) was taking the feeds of stations like NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, FOX and the WB as well as some Canadian stations and putting them online for anyone to tune in. But iCraveTV's webcasting days may be over.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it was taking legal action to stop the "theftand unauthorized performances of U.S. copyrighted films and television".Ten motion picture and three broadcasting companies today filed acomplaint against iCraveTV and companies behind the operation, including William R. Craig, William R. Craig Consulting, GeorgeSimons and TVRadio Now Corp.

The complaint was filed today in U.S. District Court for the Western Districtof Pennsylvania. It charges that iCraveTV is responsible for "one of the largest and most brazen thefts ofintellectual property ever committed in the United States."

Jack Valenti, president and chiefexecutive officer of the MPAA said in a statement: "This is a clear and damaging case of theft by iCraveTV that threatens theintellectual property, investments and achievements of the U.S. television andmotion picture industry. This kind of cyberspace stealing must be stopped,wherever it occurs, because it violates the principles of U.S. copyright law.Copyrighted programs and films don't fall from the skies; they evolve fromcreative artists, supported by considerable financial investments."

The plaintiffs filing the complaint are the Twentieth Century Fox Film, Disney, Columbia TriStar Television, Columbia Pictures Television, Columbia Pictures Industries, MGM Studios, Orion, Paramount Pictures, Universal City Studios, Time Warner, ABC, CBS and Fox Broadcasting.

For updated info including a copy of the complaint, go to the MPAAwebsite at http://www.mpaa.org.