Piracy battlefront pivots to cyberlockers

Hollywood has tried to seize the narrative in the battle against piracy by framing the issue as akin to stealing jobs or robbing a store. But as the latest iteration of content trafficking technology emerges, some say perhaps the better analogy is a pawn shop.Cyberlockers are fast becoming the file-sharing means of choice, providing piracy police with a greater reason to worry. These hosting services -- by which users upload content into a digital storage locker -- are relatively easier to access compared to BitTorrent sites because they don't require as much special software to do so. The bigger concern to the entertainment industry is their belief that the growth of cyberlockers has hinged not on a culture raised on getting content for free, but one that is out to make a buck. Some of the most popular services rely on subscription fees, but they also depend on web traffic, and to do that they pay users who upload and promote links to the most popular content. Such sites as Hotfile, Fileserve, MegaShares and RapidShare have had such incentive programs, although the latter dropped its rewards offer last year in the face of industry pressure.That comes as Hollywood and the major tech giants and retailers have paired up to support their own cloud-based locker service, UltraViolet, that launches this fall, and Disney's own Studio All Access service that stores digital copies of movies to play using any device with an Internet connection. Apple has its iCloud.What studios see in many non-Hollywood cyberlocker services are ventures that leech on their content -- as the most popular titles in cyberlockers tend to be movies that are still playing at multiplexes. In other words, if users can get their hands on a prized blockbuster illegally and upload it to a cyberlocker, they can get cash.In February, the major studios filed suit against one of the most popular cyberlockers, Hotfile, claiming that the hub committed copyright theft on a "massive scale" and that it profited "handsomely from encouraging and providing the means of massive copyright infringement." Later that month, acccording to TorrentFreak, Hotfile users started complaining on a wide scale that the company was deleting their accounts, while Hotfile said that it was undertaking a "more aggressive policy" toward users that are the subject of repeated complaints of copyright infringement. Hotfile argues that it is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's safe-harbor provisions, which shield sites from liability if they promptly remove infringing material in response to takedown notices. In legal filings it also says that the upload of copyrighted material has "little or no detrimental effect on the market for copyrighted work," and, moreover, it's a "fair use" of material.But the situation took a turn this summer. A federal judge in July dismissed studios' claims that Hotfile engaged in direct infringement, but is still allowing claims of "secondary" infringement to proceed. Even more interesting than those legal developments is the way that Hotfile is pushing back.The company is seeking records of the studios' own anti-piracy tactics, the means by which they monitor and identify infringing material with the help of security vendors.Hotfile says that rather than falling short in taking steps to get rid of infringing content, it took action that drew compliments from the studios. Hotfile notes that it implemented a "special rightsholder account" system so copyright holders could immediately take down files themselves, but that the studios "deliberately" kept their material up as they prepared to file suit.In the case of Warner Bros., however, Hotfile contends that the studio was overly aggressive in that it used its rightsholder accounts to remove material it did not own, like software games and adults-only content. For example, Warner Bros. made a movie several years ago called "The Box," but it also deleted an audiobook titled "Cancer: Out of the Box," according to Hotfile's claim.Warner Bros. had no comment, but in previous filings the studios have called their anti-piracy records "irrelevant" to the case and have pointed out that the "fair-use" argument applies to clips, not entire movies. Although the studios haven't filed an official response to the Hotfile counterclaim, they've indicated that it would be baseless.As the legal case drags on, attention also is focusing on legislation.The Protect IP Act, a bill aimed at rooting out so-called "rogue" websites, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously, and will get a big push by the Hollywood lobby to secure passage this fall. The legislation, however, does not specifically address cyberlockers, and sources say there are now discussions about including a provision covering such cloud-based storage services.If such provisions are included, Hollywood may have a new tool to fight piracy, perhaps freed from the unpredictability of the courts. But surely that won't be the end of it. After all, pawn shops may not be the most reputable businesses in the world, but they're still open. Contact Ted Johnson at ted.johnson@variety.com

Mary Parent Joins 'Pacific Rim' as Producer

Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesMary Parent Mary Parent has became a member of the creating line-from Legendary Pictures' Off-shore Rim, the mechas versus. monsters movie being directed by Guillermo del Toro. Parent behaved as chairman of MGM until its acquisition by Spyglass after which created her very own shingle named Disruption Entertainment, signing an initial-look deal at Vital. While she's several projects within the hopper, they are not in production. Pac Rim, because the project is famous, is a huge tentpole and welcomed her production expertise. Parent now joins Legendary's Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni, in addition to del Toro, as producers. The film shoots in Toronto this fall and stars Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba and Charlie Day amongst others. Mary Parent Off-shore Rim

The Way Your Magazine-Movie Sausage is created

Magazine editors are progressively searching to put their tales at galleries — for which it’s worth: “‘Hollywood is basically in the commercial of not making movies,’ stated Henry Finder, editorial director from the New Yorker. ‘They only create a movie once they exhaust reasons not to really make it. [… B]ut basically’m looking to get talent attached it may be simpler that i can say, “Hey look, Kaira Pitt, there’s this really awesome story which was in Vanity Fair or Moving Stone” — it’s likely to be according to that.’” Great! It beats Ouija. [WWD through the Awl]

The Wachowski Siblings & Tom Tykwer Set to Film "Unfilmable" 'Cloud Atlas'

Three years after the release of Andy and Lana Wachowski's 'Speed Racer,' the big return for the brains behind 'The Matrix' comes in the form of an near-impossible epic. THR reports that the Wachowskis will be teaming up with director Tom Tykwer ('Run, Lola, Run') to adapt 'Cloud Atlas' for the big screen. Based on the novel by David Mitchell, 'Cloud Atlas' revolves around the six roughly intertwining stories of six different people that span from the 19th Century to the post-apocalypse. According to producer Stefan Ardnt, "Many have called the novel unfilmable, but Tom [Tykwer] and the Wachowskis have found a way to tell these stories in an amazing, linear and very cinematic way." In regards to the techniques that they'll use to bring the novel to life, Tykwer and the Wachowskis will film together with two separate film crews and have their actors play numerous roles across the six varying story lines. Starring in the film are Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, and Ben Wishaw, among others. Sure sounds like everyone here's got their work cut out for them, but if David Lynch could film 'Naked Lunch,' anything is possible. Filming is set to start in September, head on over to The Hollywood Reporter for more details on the upcoming film. So do you think 'Cloud Atlas' will work as a movie? [via The Hollywood Reporter]

The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse

A reporter is killed in his car on his way to work. Inspector Kras gets a call from his informant Peter Cornelius, a blind fortune-teller, who had a vision of the crime but not the perpetrator. Meanwhile, Henry Travers, a rich American industrialist, checks into the Luxor Hotel, which has been outfitted by the Nazis during World War II to spy on people in every room. He becomes involved with Marian Menil who is being threatened by her evil clubfooted husband. Hieronymus B. Mistelzweig, purportedly a salesman, who is also a guest in the hotel always seems to be lurking about. These disparate characters eventually get together to solve what appears to be the re-emergence of the long-dead Dr. Mabuse.

CW Revisits Todd Graff's Dramedy 'Acting Out' For Its First Comedy Buy

EXCLUSIVE: Less than a week after new CW president Mark Pedowitz indicated that the network will be open to comedies this development season, the CW has made its first half-hour buy, Todd Graff's summer camp comedy Acting Out, executive produced by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. This is a multicamera half-hour version of the project that CW originally developed as a an hourlong musical dramedy last season when it was described as Glee meets Bad Santa. Acting Out is now being retooled as a workplace comedy with performance pieces. It will explore relationships of counselors and staff of a down-on-its-luck summer camp whose new owner, a young curmudgeon in the vein of Billy Bob Thornton inBad Santa, runs afoul of the camp's general manager, a sexy butwound-too-tight former actress. Bandslam writer-director Graff will adapt his original script and executive produce with Goldsmith-Thomas for CBS TV Studios. Goldsmith-Thomas Prods executive Marisa Yeres is also expected to get a producing credit. This is a familiar setting for Graff, who also wrote and directed the 2003 film Camp, about a burnt-out Broadway songwriter who goes to work at a musical camp for young performers. At TCA last week, Pedowitz said the network will develop comedy "very slowly, very smartly -- baby steps, selectively."

VIDEO: Cleveland Residents Use Lunch Hour to Spy Avengers Set Construction

This is how it begins, Marvel. First, fans are checking out construction on the Cleveland set of The Avengers; next, they’re posting videos, spy pics and scene descriptions to the Internet at a pace that can only be described as break-neck. (If you don’t believe that, just ask Christopher Nolan.) ABC affiliate WEWS in Cleveland hit the still-building set of Joss Whedon’s superhero supergroup spectacular during lunch hour, and found many local residents delighted at the prospect of a Hollywood production shooting on their very own streets. Never mind that Cleveland is reportedly being used as a stand-in for New York. Click through to see what foam rubble looks like. Bonus points for the newsman saying “hey, Clevelanders!” in a tone reminiscent of Perd Hapley. [NewsNet5 via Coming Soon]