Don Murphy Responds to Leaked Picture

To say the least Don Murphy is angry about the leaked Skorponok image that Ain't It Cool News posted (and now has removed). In post on his forums titled "Harry Knowles Should Be Imprisoned", he makes clear he feels a law was broken:

Seriously, he should.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30809

Now, under the provisions of the Digital Millenium Copyright act, his loser Ain't It Shit site, has to take down any copyright violations that he is notified about immediately. This is under the Safe Harbor provision. It is how You Tube currently defends itself (I say currently because the movie and tv industry will soon cripple YouTube). However, Harry acknowledges in the very posting that he knows he is violating the law, that the picture is protected, but he posts it anyway, also knowing that it will spread all over the internet (already within minutes one of the talkback rodents has "mirrored" the image). Thus, he has violated the law of the United States knowingly and willfully. Maybe no prison could contain his whole body, but at the least he should be held liable for enough in damages that Aint It Shit closes down and their constant illegal behavior, from reviewing stolen scripts to posting reviews from private test screenings held up as wrong and harmful and illegal. I've asked the studio to investigate. Stay Tuned.

I have a feeling that what Don Murphy wants to happen and what will happen are two different things. For one, the various copyright acts are not as straight forward or clear cut as Don Murphy pretends them to be. Most of the previous "victories" in the past have more to do with the defendants not having money to pay a legion of lawyers then having the law on their sides. Its why most sites will pull pictures when asked to as its really not worth the cost of a fight. The future fight over You Tube may just be what sets precedents in cases like these as it would be the first time the big boys (RIAA etc) have gone after a company that has the money to fight back (whether they have the will though is unknown).

Another factor that Don hasn't considered in his anger is that the movie studios use AICN as much as the site uses them. How else do you explain the access they get to movies? The free DVDs, previews, interviews, trips and so forth. For all the hatred Don has for the site, the marketing department clearly has love for them and makes use of the site frequently. The various sneak peaks that AICN news has had in regards to the Transformers is proof of that.

Also, alot of the "leaks" on movies is much like in the political arena. Its usually planned by the "offended" party as a trial balloon to see what the reaction is. In this case its possible the leak was to see if the response was negative or positive and to help create buzz for a forth coming trailer that in all likelihood will include images of Skorponok as that phase of the filming was completed first so the necessary CGI work would be the farthest along. Don may not have approved of the leak but that doesn't necessarily mean the many people in the chain of command of the studio system didn't.

Even if in this case its an unauthorized leak, AICN is used too often as a marketing tool by the studios to allow a single producer with a clear vendetta to take any action against a site. A "leak" on AICN is basically printing money in free advertisement and any marketing and business student can tell you the value in that.