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Old 27-01-23, 07:36 AM   #1
JackSpratts
 
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Default Peer-To-Peer News - The Week In Review - January 28th, ’23

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January 28th, 2023




‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Crosses $2 Billion Mark in Worldwide Box Office
Dan Heching

As has frequently been the case throughout his unparalleled career, James Cameron made film history again this weekend.

His long-awaited sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” has now made over $2 billion in worldwide grosses, as reported by Deadline.

That grand total is after the film’s box office take from this weekend, the sixth consecutive weekend the film has occupied the No. 1 spot since its release in December.

CNN has reached out to “Avatar: The Way of Water” producing studio Disney for comment on the film’s latest financial achievement.

“Avatar: The Way of Water” is the sequel to Cameron’s 2009 extraterrestrial epic “Avatar,” which remains at the top of the list of biggest-selling films of all time, according to Box Office Mojo.

Another of Cameron’s films is also in the $2 billion club – 1997’s “Titanic.” Only three other films are part of that club – 2015’s “Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens,” “Avengers: Infinity War” from 2018, and “Avengers: Endgame” from one year later.

Cameron is therefore the only director who can boast that three of his films are among the six to have made over $2 billion, as well as in top 6 bestselling movies of all time.

The director is planning to release at least three other “Avatar” sequels going forward.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/22/enter...ion/index.html





How (and Where) to Watch the AP Top 25 Movies Online

Glittering rock ‘n’ roll, women warriors and kings, spellbinding multiverses and stories of friendship and family permeated 2022 cinema and the AP Top 25 Movies list.
Nardos Haile

Some of last year’s best films, as determined by our panel of 26 journalists from across the U.S., are still in theaters — but many are also available online to stream now. Here’s where you can find the movies:

1. “THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN”

HBO Max.

Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Kerry Condon star in “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which tells a tale of the ebbs and flows of the friendship between Farrell’s Pádraic and Gleeson’s Colm while highlighting haunting Irish landscapes. It can be streamed on HBO Max and rented on YouTube and Amazon.

2. “EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE”

Digital rental.

The A24-produced indie “Everything Everywhere All at Once” has been a critical success and crowd-pleaser since it came out last spring. Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu carry a mind-bending multiverse story about a Chinese American family’s disconnection and how they find each other again through the existence of other versions of themselves. The film is available for streaming on Paramount+ with a Showtime add-on.

3. “TÁR”

Digital rental.

Cate Blanchett portrays renowned conductor Lydia Tár. As the titular character, she is cunning, talented and on too high of a pedestal to fall from — but of course, she does. Todd Field’s “Tár” deals with the dichotomy between power and art and takes on the culture wars dominating politics and popular discourse. It is available for rent and purchase on Amazon and iTunes.

4. “NOPE”

Peacock.

Writer-director Jordan Peele’s third horror blockbuster stars Keke Palmer and reoccurring Peele favorite Daniel Kaluuya. A story about a family’s successful business as Hollywood horse wranglers dives into strange sci-fi territory when horses on their ranch start to go missing. It’s available to stream on Peacock.

5. “THE WOMAN KING”

Digital rental.

In “The Woman King,” Viola Davis is the head of the Agojie, an all-female unit of warriors who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century. The story follows Davis’ Nanisca as she trains young women for battle while also vanquishing personal demons and enemies. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, the film is available for rental on YouTube and Apple TV.

6. “RRR”

Netflix.

S.S. Rajamouli’s three-hour maximalist action epic “RRR” is one of India’s most expensive — and top-grossing — films of all time. It pairs two of Tollywood’s biggest stars, N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan, as revolutionaries fighting against the British colonialists in 1920. The film topped Netflix’s streaming charts over the summer, and is still available to watch there.

7. “TOP GUN: MAVERICK”

Digital rental.

36 years after the original “Top Gun,” “Top Gun: Maverick” takes the audience to new heights with Tom Cruise reprising his role as “Maverick.” Cruise takes on a leadership and mentor role for supporting cast members Miles Teller and Glen Powell. “Top Gun: Maverick” is available for rental on Paramount+ and Amazon.

8. “THE FABELMANS”

Digital rental.

Steven Spielberg’s most personal film yet documents the joys and ultimate perils that fragment the Fabelman family forever. In a love letter to film and his family, Spielberg allows viewers to see behind his passion for film and his search for the meaning of family and life. The film is available to rent on Amazon.

9. “WOMEN TALKING”

Still only in limited theaters.

Director Sarah Polley weaves the story of pervasive sexual assault plaguing the women in a Mennonite community. “Women Talking” is an adaptation of a 2018 book by Miriam Toews. It stars Claire Foy, Rooney Mara and Frances McDormand. The film is still in limited theaters and is not yet available for streaming.

10. “GLASS ONION: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY”

Netflix.

The sequel to director Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out,” “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” features the return of Daniel Craig’s southern twang-heavy detective Benoit Blanc. The twisty whodunit does what the original did best: allow problematic and murderous rich people to measure their egos and decipher which one is a killer. The film is available to stream on Netflix.

11. “AFTERSUN”

Digital rental.

Writer-director Charlotte Wells illustrates the bond between a father/daughter duo portrayed by Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio. “Aftersun” focuses on the pivotal moments in adolescent life when the world feels so big and full of wonder that starts to fade when the reality of life peeks through the cracks and taints your memories. The film is available to rent on Amazon and YouTube.

12. “DECISION TO LEAVE”

Digital rental.

Director Park Chan-wook’s “Decision To Leave” is a Hitchcockian noir that follows the story of an insomniac detective falling in love with a beautiful suspect in a suspicious death he’s investigating. It is available for digital rental on Apple TV and Amazon.

13. “GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S PINOCCHIO”

Netflix.

The decades-old child’s tale “Pinocchio” gets retold through the lens of Guillermo Del Toro’s dark mind. This is not the Disney version of “Pinocchio” — in Del Toro’s still musical version, themes of fascism are explored. The cast includes Christoph Waltz, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton and Ewan McGregor. The film is available to stream on Netflix.

14. “ELVIS”

HBO Max.

In “Elvis,” Baz Luhrmann’s vision transforms relatively unknown child actor Austin Butler into the King. The unconventional biopic tells the life of Elvis Presley from the perspective of his former manager Colonel Tom Parker, played by Tom Hanks. The film is available to stream on HBO Max.

15. “ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED”

Still only in limited theaters.

American photographer Nan Goldin’s life’s work is told throughout “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” and it’s not just about photography. Directed by Laura Poitras, this documentary dives into Goldin’s political activism and how the sticky web of the Sackler family’s philanthropic interests in the art world intersected with their pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, which has faced a barrage of lawsuits alleging that it helped spark an opioid addiction and overdose crisis. The film is in limited theaters and is not yet available for streaming.

16. “AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER”

Still in theaters.

After a 13-year wait, “Avatar: The Way of Water” delves into the journey of the original “Avatar” main character Jake Sully’s family through adversity and loss. Director James Cameron builds a spiritual and visually compelling world in this sequel that stars Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. The film is still in theaters and is not yet available for streaming.

16. “THE WHALE”

Still in theaters.

Brendan Fraser plays Charlie, the 600-pound central character of “The Whale.” Charlie is a father, an English teacher and has terminal health issues that give him a life expectancy of a week. In that week, he attempts to bond with his estranged daughter, played by “Stranger Things” actor Sadie Sink. The film is based on and adapted from the off-Broadway play by Samuel D. Hunter. The film is still in theaters and is not yet available for streaming.

18. “BABYLON”

Still in theaters.

From “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle comes a journey into 1920s Hollywood hedonism and a drug-fueled fever dream of the bygone cinematic era. The film stars Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and newcomer Diego Calva in a three-hour story about filmmaking at a crucial time for American cinema. The film is still in theaters and is not yet available for streaming.

19. “SHE SAID”

Peacock.

Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, who uncovered the decadeslong sexual assault and misconduct allegations against disgraced Hollywood movie executive Harvey Weinstein. Their story was the catalyst that sparked a worldwide reckoning known as the #MeToo movement. The film is available for streaming on Peacock.

20. “MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON”

Digital rental.

“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” is a feature-length, stop-motion animation film based on the YouTube shorts made by Jenny Slate, who voices Marcel in a high-pitched octave, and director Dean Fleischer Camp. The experience of being small, cute and unassuming is the heart of the film about a mollusk. The film is available to rent on Amazon.

21. “TRIANGLE OF SADNESS”

Digital rental.

Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund has created a prickly social satire examining race, wealth, social class and inequality. It stars the late Charlbi Dean and Harris Dickinson as a model/influencer couple who end up on a sponsored yacht trip with other rich guests. Chaos ensues when the yacht gets stuck in the middle of a storm and the guests end up on a deserted island. The film later focuses on maid-turned-ringleader Abigail, played by Dolly De Leon.

22. “TILL”

Digital rental.

A drama about the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till, director Chinonye Chukwu centers on Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, played by Danielle Deadwyler. The film follows the aftereffects of Emmett’s brutal murder, Mamie’s private trauma and her evolution into a civil rights activist. The film is available to rent on YouTube, Apple TV and Amazon.

23. “EO”

Still in limited theaters.

“EO,” is the story of a circus donkey who is taken from his owner and begins a long, spiritual journey through the modern Polish and Italian countrysides, encountering humans both kind and cruel. It is a love letter to animals , directed by Jerzy Skolimowski. “EO” is still in limited theaters and is not yet available for streaming.

24. “TURNING RED”

Disney+.

“Turning Red” is the first Pixar movie directed solely by a woman. Helmed by Domee Shi, who also made the Oscar-winning short “Bao,” the animated film is a coming-of-age tale about a Chinese Canadian eighth-grader who turns into a big, fluffy red panda — a walking metaphor for growing young womanhood. “Turning Red” is available to stream on Disney+.

25. “NO BEARS”

Still in limited theaters.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi was banned from making films for 20 years in 2010. He’s nevertheless made five films since then, including “No Bears.” The film dramatizes Panahi making a film along the Turkish-Iranian border. In July 2022, Panahi was arrested on an old charge. He is now serving six years in jail and was not able to attend the premiere of “No Bears.” The film is still in limited theaters and is not yet available on streaming.
https://apnews.com/article/where-to-...cb1c158127ed77





Belarus Has Basically Legalized Music Piracy — Will Russia Be Next?

The law, passed earlier this month, legalizes infringement of copyrighted entertainment from "unfriendly countries," primarily in the West.
VladamirKozlov

The Eastern European country of Belarus has adopted a law that essentially legalizes piracy of music and other forms of copyrighted entertainment, which could make it a hotbed for piracy well beyond its borders.

Under the law, which President Alexander Lukashenko approved in early January, copyrighted music, films and other audiovisual content originating from “unfriendly countries” can be used in Belarus without permission from rights holders.

The law doesn’t provide a list of “unfriendly countries.” But based on the Belarusian government’s previous statements, the legislation primarily targets Western nations, which slapped sanctions on Belarus following mass repressions of people for protesting the rigged presidential vote in 2020 and, more recently, because of Belarus’ support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Belarus has never been a major music market — it does not show up in the IFPI’s ranking of the 62 biggest markets — and the major global labels had traditionally run operations there from their Russian offices. Since the labels pulled out of Russia after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, they have also cut ties with Belarus. The country, which sits between Russia to the east and Ukraine to the south, backed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion last year by allowing Russia to launch part of its attack from Belarusian territory.

Despite its small stature in the music industry, analysts say that under the government’s piracy-permitting law Belarus could play an outsized role in spurring more global piracy.

“As Belarus is a very small music market — a rounding error in the global market — there will be little direct impact in terms of music revenues for western rights holders,” says Mark Mulligan, music analyst at MIDiA Research.

“What might be impactful though is whether piracy networks start to operate from Belarus, distributing globally but operating under the protection of Belarussian law.”

The music industry is already dealing with a spate of piracy networks based in Russia and surrounding countries that are distributing pirated content to other markets, sometimes on other continents. Among the best-known operations are the stream-ripping websites FLVTO.biz and 2conv.com, run by Tofig Kurbanov, who reportedly lives in southern Russia.

More than two dozen record labels and the RIAA have pursued Kurbanov in the U.S. for copyright damages. Last February, a U.S. district judge in Alexandria, Va., approved an $82.9 million judgement against the Russian for circumventing YouTube’s anti-piracy measures and infringing copyrights of audio recordings. The court found that Kurbanov’s operation drew more than 300 million users from around the world to his sites in a single year. (Kurbanov says he plans to appeal.)

And in Brazil, Paulo Rosa, IFPI affiliate Pro Música’s president, told Billboard in 2021 that most of the fake streams being peddled to consumers in the South American country originate from hacker operations in Russia.

The Belarusian piracy law could nevertheless set an example for neighboring Russia, which for months has been considering a similar move to legalize copyrighted content from certain Western countries. Since the early 2000s, Russia has often followed the example of Belarus in strengthening authoritarian rule.

Before the war with Ukraine, Russia had the 13th-largest music market in 2020 with revenues of $328 million, a 58% bump from 2019; it was the fastest-growing market in the world in 2019 and 2020, according to the IFPI.

While Russia’s relations with the West are at their lowest point since the Cold War, and many Western companies have left the country, the legalization of piracy would likely further isolate Russia — and could “set back the Russian music industry by decades,” one person at a global music company tells Billboard.

In recent years, Russia had made a substantial effort to shed its reputation as a place where piracy ran rampant. VK, the Russian analog of Facebook, which for years allowed users to share unlicensed music tracks on the platform, eventually cleaned up its act and signed license agreements with global majors a few years ago.

Now that the majors have left Russia, dozens of pirated albums have already been reappearing on VK, including recent releases from Taylor Swift (Midnights, on Universal Music Group’s Republic Records) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (Return of the Dream Canteen, on Warner Music Group’s Warner Records).

The legalization of piracy would certainly make it harder for Western streaming services to start operating in Russia again, says Mulligan. While Russia is still “earlier in its streaming development,” he says, “longer term it could become a significant market and at that stage Western rightsholders would want to ensure that their music is being paid for when it is being consumed at scale.”

New laws legalizing piracy would fly in the face of treaty commitments made by both Belarus and Russia. Both countries are signatories to the Berne Convention and other World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)-administered treaties.

“Suspending IP protection as Belarus is presently considering would violate its obligations under these WIPO treaties and would seriously dampen Belarus’ opportunities to become integrated into the global trade community and to secure [Most Favored Nation] status, or to further integrate with the [European Union], thus minimizing its economic opportunities in the long term,” says Neil Turkewitz, president of Turkewitz Consulting Group.

Also, “any actions legalizing piracy would destroy any chance of investment in local creative industries and would hurt local artists and their fans the most,” the IFPI tells Billboard in a statement. “Such actions would be in clear breach of international copyright law and trade agreements.”
https://www.billboard.com/pro/belaru...ussia-be-next/





Sony's New Tech could Block Sideloading Piracy Apps on Android TV

Sony envisions a monitoring app on smart TVs and streaming devices that blocks sideloaded piracy apps.
Hadlee Simons

• Sony has filed a patent for an anti-piracy monitoring app on media players and TVs.
• The app would block or degrade the performance of sideloaded apps that allow pirated content.
• This would likely be for Android TV as Sony uses this platform for its smart TVs.

Sony is no stranger to fighting piracy, be it on the PlayStation side of things or in the music and video landscapes. However, the company’s latest anti-piracy measure could target Android TV.

The Japanese giant filed a new patent application to block piracy apps on smart TVs and streaming devices, Torrent Freak reported. Of course, Sony uses the Android TV platform for its smart TVs, suggesting that this anti-piracy measure could indeed come to Google’s platform in a limited fashion.

So how does this anti-piracy feature work?

The company describes the use of a system-level “monitor” application that would form part of the operating system. This application contains a block list of known pirated network resources (e.g. URLs and IP addresses) and would then identify third-party apps accessing said resources. From here, the monitor app would block the third-party app from running, throttle it to provide a degraded experience, or pause the content at irregular intervals to frustrate viewers.

This is just a patent right now, so there’s no guarantee this anti-piracy feature will actually land on commercial Sony devices. Nevertheless, it still raises plenty of questions. For one, you have to wonder whether this monitor app could hog system resources, resulting in a chugging experience on Android TV. There is a precedent for this too, as it’s not uncommon to see choppier performance in PC games with anti-piracy measures.

Torrent Freak also points to the company’s CD rootkit scandal from 2005. This saw Sony secretly install software on PCs after users inserted an audio CD into the disc drive. The software was meant to prevent CD copying but also shipped with vulnerabilities that were exploited by malware. Furthermore, the software would report on the user’s listening habits and would prove to be difficult to uninstall.

In other words, you really have to wonder whether a future anti-piracy application on Sony’s Android TVs would introduce these same issues.
https://www.androidauthority.com/son...id-tv-3266895/





Jack Daniels vs Bad Spaniels: Funny Jokes and Free Speech
Dennis Crouch

It is hard for me to believe that the US Supreme Court is hearing the case of Jack Daniels vs Bad Spaniels. For those who don’t know, Jack Daniels is a form of Whiskey. VIP Products makes and sells a squeaking dog toy known as “bad spaniels.” The setup here is a humorous parody, but JD is not laughing.

Jack Daniels sent a cease-and-desist letter to VIP who then filed a declaratory judgment action in Arizona. The district court sided with JD on both TM infringement and dilution and issued an injunction to stop ongoing sales and distribution. (The excrementory references in Bad Spaniel also led to tarnishment conclusions). On appeal though, the 9th Circuit identified the toy as an “expressive work” entitled to speech protections under the First Amendment of the US Constitution and ordered the lower court to apply an enhanced infringement analysis stemming from Rogers v. Grimaldi, 875 F.2d 994 (1989). Under Rogers, the court needs to consider the expressive relevance of the accused work and whether it is “explicitly” misleading. With regard to dilution, the appellate court found that the dog toy was not actually making commercial use of the JD mark. Although the toy was being sold in commerce, the JD mimicry was for humourous speech purposes rather than simply commercial.

The Supreme Court granted certiorari and the briefing is ongoing. Typically, the most important amicus brief in a private case is that filed by the U.S. Government. Here, the USPTO and DOJ joined together to file a brief strongly supporting the mark holder — writing that the 9th Circuit decision “is egregiously wrong.” The Gov’t is particularly concerned that a funny joke will be an excuse to allow infringement. Although humorous parody should be a factor in the likelihood-of-confusion analysis, the Gov’t argues that it should not be a determinative “get-out-of-the-Lanham-Act free card.” On the dilution side, the Gov’t argues that Congress expressly set the rules, including a defense that the accused use is not being used as a mark. The Gov’t argues here that the Ninth Circuit ignored that provision and instead created its own non-statutory rule regarding the commercial nature of the humor being used.

The Government’s basic argument here is that free speech concerns are properly incorporated into the infringement analysis and should not be given a separate overlay. The result then is a holistic balancing of speech interests against the misleading nature of a product. “The Ninth Circuit’s reasoning means that virtually any humorous pirating of a trademark will be “expressive” and thus qualify for heightened First Amendment protection, no matter how misleading.”

The briefing also highlights some concerning uses of marks to sell marijuana products, such as the Oreo knock-off below. These don’t really seem humorous, but who am I to know?

Read the Gov’t Brief here. One note, in the case, the appellate court did not expressly consider Bad Spaniels under a more traditional parody test. The Gov’t suggested vacatur and remand to the 9th Circuit to reconsider on those grounds.
https://patentlyo.com/patent/2023/01...ls-speech.html

















Until next week,

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