December 7, 2009
Movies Department
Muvico Must Hate Its Customers
I hate it when movie theaters put a message on the screen where they threaten to prosecute us for using a recording device. I understand they want to prevent people from copying movies, and I don't plan on any bootlegging, but I don't like doing business with places that treat me like a criminal.
Since a taping incident doesn't hurt a theater directly very much, I wondered if the message was just a requirement passed along from the distributor. Or were they really serious?
At the Muvico theater in Rosemont, Illinois, they're apparently serious about it. Viciously and stupidly serious, as 22-year old Samantha Tumpach found out last weekend:
Taping three minutes of "Twilight: New Moon" during a visit to a Rosemont movie theater landed Samantha Tumpach in a jail cell for two nights.
Now, the 22-year-old Chicago woman faces up to three years in prison after being charged with a rarely invoked felony designed to prevent movie patrons from recording hot new movies and selling bootleg copies.
But Tumpach insisted Wednesday that's not what she was doing -- she was actually taping parts of her sister's surprise birthday party celebrated at the Muvico Theater in Rosemont.
...
Managers contacted police, who examined the small digital camera, which also records video segments, Cmdr. Frank Siciliano said. Officers found that Tumpach had taped "two very short segments" of the movie -- no more than four minutes total, he said.
Tumpach was arrested after theater managers insisted on pressing charges, he said.
I understand the need to protect intellectual property, but this is ridiculous. Copyright is usually a matter of civil law, so taking it to the level of felony criminal charges should only be necessary to punish blatant piracy of intellectual property such as a DVD forgery operation.
It's also pretty asinine of the theater management to press charges in a case like this. I'm guessing that Ms Tumpach and her friends won't spending any more money at Muvico in Rosemont. Neither will lots of other people If this story gets around.
FYI, here's the Muvico contact page.
(Hat tip: Consumerist via Balko)
Update: Here's my email to Muvico:
Dear Sir or Madam,
I've always been disturbed by the now-common warnings against using a recording device in theaters. I understand why recording is wrong, but I don't appreciate spending good money in your establishment for tickets and snacks, and then being treated like a potential criminal.
Now I read in the Chicago Sun-Times that the Muvico I go to in Rosemont is pressing charges against a young lady for recording a few minutes of the latest Twilight movie while playing around with a cheap little camera. That's just crazy. Your theater manager has no sense of proportion---What's next? Prosecuting customers for littering if they don't throw away their empty popcorn buckets?
I guess he (or she) also has no sense of the value of customers to the theater business. There are lots of other theater choices in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. I don't have to go to Muvico, and I don't think I will.
-- Mark Draughn
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The a-holes at Muvico are completely unpologetic about this incident. I emailed them to tell them how horrified i was about what happened, expecting to get some sort of apology. Instead they sent me back this form letter, basically saying they did the right thing.
There should be protests outside this movie theater. No human should be imprisoned for 3 days for taping a movie. Muvico has got to go. They just don't get it.
Here's the response they sent me- unedited:
----------------------
MUVICO'S OFFICIAL RESPONSE TO CAMCORDING
INCIDENT AT MUVICO ROSEMONT 18
The unauthorized video recording of a motion picture while
it is being exhibited in a movie theater is illegal under federal law
and under the laws of more than forty states, including the State of
Illinois. According to a study commissioned by the Motion Picture
Association of America, illegal film piracy costs the movie industry
billions of dollars each year, and illegal camcording in movie theaters
is the source of over 90% of all illegally copied movies in their
initial release form.
In order to combat the increasing theft of copyrighted
films, the motion picture industry has encouraged theater owners to
adopt a "zero-tolerance" policy prohibiting the video or audio recording
of any portion of a movie. Specifically, theater managers are
instructed to alert law enforcement authorities whenever they suspect
illegal activity. Theater managers have neither the expertise nor the
authority to decide whether a crime has been committed. Law enforcement
professionals determine what laws may have been broken and what
enforcement action should be taken. It is then up to prosecutorial
discretion to determine the seriousness of any charges that might be
leveled.
In our continuing effort to educate our guests about the
illegality of film piracy, Muvico prominently places a number of posters
and signs within its theaters alerting moviegoers of its
"zero-tolerance" policy with respect to the camcording of films in its
auditoriums.
Beatriz E. Gerdts
Administrative Assistant
Muvico Entertainment LLC
3101 N. Federal Highway, 6th Floor
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306
Phone: (954) 564-6550 ext. 0
beatriz.gerdts@muvico.com
www.muvico.com