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Can anyone suggest ideas on how to track down a film that may have been bootlegged? This is a low-budget independent film (with name talent) that has yet to be released in the U.S. The film got out to Singapore, Malaysia and Israel.
I've considered hiring a private investigator in all three countries but there has to be a more simple way to start.
Any help? I'm thinking there might be national copyright websites i can do searches on or sites that list all available bootlegged films or a periodical similar to our TV Guide that i can order back copies of and search that way. Maybe there are specialty companies that track hard to find movies for collectors I can hire?
This is an emergency but not time-sensitive. Although the sooner i can put this behind me the sooner i can get off the meds.
thanks
Follow Ups:
> Can anyone suggest ideas on how to track down a film that may have
> been bootlegged?Put it this way... if the big studios can't stop, properly track, or prosecute that vast majority of cases, then it's going to be very difficult if not impossible for you to do the same as an independent.
As far as tracking it down, what do you mean? Do you mean finding the duplication houses or individual copies? Once it hits duplication, you've got to worry about DVD, VHS, and possibly VCD. Those then get shipped all over the regions and eventually back to the USA. The quality is usually terrible, but the people who buy boots don't seem to care much about that.
What you should be more concerned about is how it got leaked. For something that's not been released domestically, you have a lot better idea of how it could have gotten out and how to control such things. The best thing to do is have some kind of scroll on any finished edits that get dropped to video. I don't know what you could do for film prints... the studios have begun marking each print with a series of coded dots inbetween reels that supposedly identify which unique print it is. This information can then be tracked down to where it was shown to help create a legal case against the theatre for allowing the film to be taped. For an independent with limited prints, you probably already have an idea where it would have been done.
Basically, trust no one. It doesn't take much effort to pull the data off of a DVD these days and transferring a videotape to a DVD can be done in real time as well. Just one copy leaked out can be used as a master, so unfortunately you need to mark the picture some how, even if you have to do each one individually.
As for tracking it with peer to peer (Kazaa, Limewire, etc,) you're probably beating a dead horse with that. All that means is that different thieves have stolen it from the bootleggers. It probably won't help you much there because the users won't be able to say where they got it originally since it's passed through so many layers already. If your aim is to find out who originally got it, it will be very dead at that level unless your only interest is to see which copy got leaked.
How did you find out to what countries it got out? Do you have any contacts in that country that have been able to find copies of the film? Are you able to find out any of the duplication facilities in that country that have DVD capabilities? Some legitimate houses may be doing this in those countries due to the very different copyright laws that exist internationally... as far as I've heard, most places in the Far East that do that sort of work don't have to fear prosecution, so it's not something they'll hide that much. They may even sell you some copies if you pose as a distributor...
All i need to do is discover that the film is out there. i already know who the responsible party is and had a fun time suing the shit out of them and winning. now i just have to prove the film is in circulation to sue for damages (which is the entire value of the film) and likely i'll win punitive damages as well.i don't care who has a copy, i just need to prove there ARE copies out there.
by the way, the sales agent that did this stole my film w/o sound and married it to an old sountrack with unlicensed music and put that version into circulation so after i sue again i'll contact the record labels and let them know they have a few copyright suits on their hands if they want them. i'd hate to be these people if it ever comes to that.
thanks
> i already know who the responsible party is and had a fun time suing
> the shit out of them and winning.HAH!!! Beautiful! Congrats on getting a win. Good to see the little guy get a win for a change.
I can't name the film because random people might start contacting distributors and w/o meaning to alerting them to a possible problem with the film.i just need links and info and advice.
thanks
Well, even though it's unethical you can try a kazaa-style search for it. There are a couple of impossible to find films I've been able to view by this method; granted they were released 20+ years ago and more "art" films than holywood blockbusters. The image/sound quality is Divx, so it's nothing to write home about. If you use a off-site computer to look you'll be safe from the federales; go to the library or a college, they usually have a T1 anyways and you're talking massive file sizes for whole films ( around a gig ).You could also check Canal St. in Tribeca. Especially if it's kung-fu.
Ethics disclaimer: while I understand the complex debate around downloading music/movies and generally do not approve of downloading "current" material, I believe that illegally viewing/listening to material that is not and will not be distributed in one's marketplace is an acceptable infringement. I won't qualify the "artistic" necessity or value of the material veiwed/heard due to the debate over what is or isn't of artistic value. I, personally, believe everything that someone wants to call Art is Art, and that the real question is what is "good" Art as opposed to "bad or poor-quality" Art. From Beuys to Judd, in a sense.
Cheers, good luck, and hope this helps.
http://www.divxmovies.com/movies/Hey, does anyone have a membership to this site? i know there is another movie with the same title as mine. i found the film on this site but can't contact the guy sharing it w/o paying $20 for a membership. like i'm going to give these guys MORE of my money? i would if i knew the title was my film and not the other film with the same title. anyway...shitfuckpiss
anyone a member? please let me know.
yessir,i'm not worried about searching any illegal sites. i'm trying to find my OWN film that was stolen. i wish someone WOULD show up at my doorstep asking me what i was doing on the site...maybe they'd be able to help. frankly, after going at this a while, nobody out there gives a flying fuck who's bootlegging what where and for how much. it's a big joke right now at least in the film industry. as far as music downloading: i hear the music industry is starting to prosecute individuals. i don't understand how they'd calculate the damages unless the person was also sharing loads of music files.
can you give me more specifics on the 'kazaa style' search? is this like napster? are there any others? i'll search them all but i don't know any of the names. please help if you can. ALSO, the title has probably been translated or changed. I hope there's a way to search by actors.
i can't remember my first post about this but the countries that would have had access to a master of my film are singapore, malaysia and Israel. Also all of Latin America. i need to prove my film is 'out there' so i can sue my sales agent for damages. if someone has a particular expertise in this area i'd be willing to discuss on the phone. i can offer a 10% reward for any money collected in a judgment. damages are at least 1.2 million.
thanks in advance.
Just FYI: bootleggers copy films so fast now it's changed the way studios and independents sell film. there's no longer any time spent shopping for a good sale. you can go to one film market one month and talk to an interested buyer in say Germany. The next month at another market that same buyer might tell you 'i've seen this already...not interested.' a few years ago a decent indie film of around 1mil budget with a name or two done well to average could usually over time get its money back in foreign sales. Now it you don't sell out in all foreign territories quickly the bootleggers will be one step ahead of you and there goes your million dollars. it happens EVERY DAY to EVERY FILM. singapore, malaysia are the WORST BY FAR...at least for films. live and learn...and hide your S&W from yourself during drinking binges.
can you give me more specifics on the 'kazaa style' search?P2P, it's when two computers link together via the internet, say, linking my hard drive to a fella's hard drive in Italy. He can copy all of my files and I can copy all of his. There are a lot of P2P clients out there, grokster/napster/kazaa et all. The problem is getting access to files, as due to the illegality it's sort of an exclusive club type thing. You often have to get another users permission to access their files. I've found the best way is to bribe with porn.
is this like napster? are there any others?
MANY. depending on whether you're using a Mac or Pc you have different options. If you have windows I'd say give grokster a try. If you have a Mac I'd recommend KDXclient ( do a google search ).i'll search them all but i don't know any of the names.
That's tough. It's not as easy as it used to be.please help if you can. ALSO, the title has probably been translated or changed. I hope there's a way to search by actors.
Most likely you wont be able to. But maybe. All servers and clients are a bit different.Stay away from crap like www.divxmovies.com, you only need to get a Divx codec, it's like RealPlayer or Quicktime and allows you to play divx movies. If you have a mac I recommend DivxDoctor2. Works like a charm and converts .avi to Quicktime.
If you email me your movie title and info I'll check around for it, if for no other reason than a shot at . No promises though.And I'm getting a little uncomfortable with talking about this on a public forum. Then again, I haven't said anything that hasn't been said on "60 minutes" already.
How 'bout identifying the movie you're looking for?
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