To most consumers it’s common sense that they can make a backup copy of media they own, but in the UK this was illegal until late last year.
After consulting various stakeholders the Government decided that it would be in the best interests of consumers to legalize copying for personal use.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, not all copyright holders were in favor of the legal changes. In fact, emails published from the Sony Pictures Entertainment hack reveal that Hollywood wanted to stop the plans by urging UK Prime Minister David Cameron to keep Hollywood’s interests in mind.
The first email mentioning the issue was sent January last year. Here, Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton was informed that MPAA boss Chris Dodd wanted him to give Cameron a call.
“Essentially, Dodd thinks (and we agree) it would be helpful for you to call Prime Minister Cameron if you are willing in order to ensure our position is fully considered,” the email from Sony’s Keith Weaver reads.
According to Weaver it was still uncertain whether Hollywood’s concerns would be properly heard in Parliament.
“This is because prior interactions with the U.K. government over the last few months have left us with no certainty that our concerns will be addressed in the proposal that will be presented to Parliament for an up or down vote in February,” he explained.
Tag: Michael Lynton
Who runs this world? Sony Pictures CEO jokes about getting UK culture minister fired
Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton mulled pulling strings to get UK culture minister Ed Vaizey fired to replace him with the grandson of former prime minister Harold MacMillan.
Vaizey, a democratically elected Tory moderniser, oversaw “digital industries” for Britain’s Coalition government – from broadband to copyright shakeups. He was comfortably reelected in 2010, and slotted into the Ministry of Fun by Prime Minister David Cameron.
The revelation that Sony’s powerful Lynton wanted shot of Vaizey emerged fresh from the mountain of emails and documents leaked from Sony Pictures by hackers, all of which were bunged into a searchable online database by WikiLeaks this week.
Brit-born Lynton was sharing breakfast with Bella Pollen – a UK socialite, journalist, and novelist – in Los Angeles in August last year when he fired off an email to her husband David MacMillan, publisher and grandson of former Prime Minister Harold MacMillan, that read:
I am sitting here with Bella and conspiring as to how to make you Minister of Culture and Sport. You are perfectly qualified. First step is to get Ed Vaizey fired. I will do this with George Osborne. Next step is to get you appointed. This requires you meeting Charles Dunstone and having him recommend you. I will make the introduction in September. The games afoot !!!
Dunstone – chairman of Carphone Warehouse – is a big contributor to the Conservative party.
Two hours later, MacMillan, in the UK at the time, responded:
Need to be elected to parliament or raised to the peerage to proceed further with your plan, but love the idea Like all being in Charles Dunston’s gift, Think Osborne will be fearful of Vaizey as he wishes to avoid the publication of various school time photos … or maybe he feels comfortable with his past.
MPAA Wants Private Theaters in U.S. Embassies to Lobby Officials
In an effort to get foreign policy makers onside, the movie group asked its member studios to help fund an upgrade of the screening rooms in various U.S. embassies around the world.
In an email from Sony Pictures Entertainment Head of Worldwide Government Affairs Keith Weaver to CEO Michael Lynton last March, Weaver explains that the studio had been asked for rather a sizable contribution.
“I wanted to make you aware of a recent MPAA request, as Senator Dodd may contact you directly,” Weaver’s email begins.
“Essentially, the request is for the member companies to consider upgrading screening rooms at U.S. Embassies in various countries (Germany, Spain, Italy, UK, and Japan)…”
These rooms could then be used by the ambassadors to show off Hollywood content to invited high-level officials.
“…the idea being that these upgraded screening rooms would allow American ambassadors to screen our movies to high level officials (and, thus, inculcate a stronger will to protect our interests through this quality exposure to our content),” Weaver adds.
In other words, the MPAA wants to pay for an upgrade of the embassies’ private theaters, to indirectly protect the interests of U.S. movie studios abroad.
It’s a rather interesting lobbying effort and one that doesn’t come cheap. The estimated cost for the project is $165,000 per studio, which means the total budget for the project is close to a million dollars.
Unfortunately for the MPAA, Weaver suggested giving the project a miss and in a reply Lynton agreed.
“While studios have supported efforts like this in the past, my inclination is that we pass on this financial commitment at this time (of course, applauding the idea/effort),” Weaver noted.
In an email a few months later the issue was addressed again with additional details.
In this conversation Weaver notes that the request is “not unusual” and that the studio supported a similar request years ago. “Apparently, donations of this kind are permissible,” Weaver writes.
Again, Lynton replied that he was not inclined to support the project. It’s unclear whether any of the other members chipped in, or if the plan has been canceled due to a lack of financial support.