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posted by janrinok on Tuesday August 11 2015, @04:52PM   Printer-friendly
from the that's-my-word-you-can't-use-it dept.

Columbia Pictures, the studio behind the recent Adam Sandler film "Pixels," has gone on the warpath, targeting independent films on Vimeo that use the word "pixels" in the title, TorrentFreak reports.

According to a DMCA complaint lodged with Vimeo by anti-piracy organisation Entura International on behalf of Columbia Pictures, with which Vimeo has complied, 10 videos were targeted by the production company.

These include: "Pixels -- Life Buoy," filmmaker Dragos Bardac's project for his degree at the National University of Arts in Bucharest, Romania, uploaded in 2010; a dance music video called "Detuned Pixels -- Choco" uploaded in 2014; a short film called Pantone Pixels, uploaded in 2011; a video by graphic designer Franz Jeitz, announcing that he'll be speaking at the 2015 Pixels Festival; and, ironically, the award-winning short film "Pixels" by Patrick Jean which served as the inspiration for the Sandler film.

While Jean's film has been removed from his own account, it remains untouched on the account of One More Productions, which produced it.

The sweep also caught two unofficially uploaded copies of the Columbia Pictures film's trailer. A search for the word "pixels" on Vimeo reveals that some targeting may have been applied, returning some 9,050 results still live on the site at time of writing.

According to a complaint by NGO NeMe, which uploaded a video called "Pixels" in 2006, video creators are also being issued "strikes" along with the takedown. When a content creator receives three of these strikes, their channel will be suspended from the site.


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:03PM

    by acid andy (1683) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:03PM (#221326) Homepage Journal

    The damn movie should be called "Voxels" anyway. Morons.

    --
    If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
    • (Score: 1) by miljo on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:38PM

      by miljo (5757) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:38PM (#221336) Journal

      Get in the sea, pendant. ;-)

      --
      One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret.
      • (Score: 5, Touché) by acid andy on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:48PM

        by acid andy (1683) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:48PM (#221340) Homepage Journal

        Get in the sea, pendant. ;-)

        I don't swing that way but whatever floats your boat, dude.

        --
        If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
        • (Score: 3, Funny) by miljo on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:57PM

          by miljo (5757) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:57PM (#221413) Journal

          I don't swing that way but whatever floats your boat, dude.

          All this back and forth is getting us nowhere.

          --
          One should strive to achieve, not sit in bitter regret.
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:59PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:59PM (#221343)

      > I know this has been said before but...

      Not here.
      Thanks for ruining our perfect record.

  • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:06PM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:06PM (#221328) Homepage Journal

    The creators of the taken-down films have standing to sue.

    One can trademark titles but only if they use the mark of some other product or service that has been used in trade. That is, Mattel could trademark "Barbie(TM): Longer, Harder and Uncut".

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Francis on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:12PM

      by Francis (5544) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:12PM (#221330)

      One of the big problems here is that while they have standing to sue, I'm sure many of those cases wouldn't get to court as the plaintiff doesn't have the pockets necessary to take it to court.

      Cases like this really need to be prosecuted as a criminal matter rather than being treated as a civil affair. It's pretty clear after all these years that companies have no problem filing fraudulent claims, it's about time people started to go to prison for it.

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:34PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @05:34PM (#221334)

        doesn't have the pockets necessary to take it to court.

        Considering the scope of what has happened I smell a class action lawsuit where only lawyers make money.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:01PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:01PM (#221345)

          > I smell a class action lawsuit where only lawyers make money.

          That's the inevitable result of a legal system based on capitalism.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:10PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:10PM (#221352)

            And a possibility for me to be snarky and make a dumb joke ;)

          • (Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:30PM

            by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:30PM (#221391) Homepage Journal

            I recently received two plainly fraudulent Robo Calls.

            Automated recorded telephone calls other than from political campaigns are a Federal civil offense. I don't know that I have the headspace to deal with it but I contemplate suing the ignorant mother fuckers.

            However I could not use Small Claims Court; that's a State thing. I don't think there's a Federal Small Claims Court so I'd have to sue in Big Claims Court. That's a huge pain in the ass.

            The win is that the attorneys don't get any money; I would act Pro Per.

            --
            Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @02:20AM

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @02:20AM (#221541)

              Politicians exempted themselves from robocall laws, just like they exempted themselves from insider trading laws.

      • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:26PM

        by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:26PM (#221389) Homepage Journal

        My friend Thomas Leavitt [880itservices.com] was sued by right-wing talk show host Michael Savage, over Thomas' "Savage Stupidity" site. Savage was concerned that his advertising revenues were not up to scratch.

        Thomas found a Washington DC public interest law firm that agreed to represent him Pro Bono. Thomas prevailed.

        There are some public interest attorneys that have lots of money; Larry Lessig for example.

        --
        Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:46PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:46PM (#221375)

      Of all the movies mentioned so far, yours sounds:

      1) Most likely to make a profit

      2) Most appealing for me to watch as a guy with mostly stereotypical preferences

      I mean, if the business model is to shovel out brainless exploitative formulaic dreck videos, at least make it a media with appeal, like pr0n. I had a weird argument about pr0n movies with this woman a long while back where she ranted at me for like ten minutes about exploitation of young women and unfair relationship expectations and unrealistic female body shapes and she just rambled on and on, and I finally shut her up with something like "OK so we've agreed we both don't like Disney Princess movies, now you claimed you'd lecture me about pr0n so lets switch to that". If you're not going to output stuff with cinematic integrity, why not at least shovel out stuff guys like to look at? Like what is the point of the failing movie industry?

      Can anyone talk me out of thinking MDCs movie suggestion would be the best movie mentioned so far in the article? I mean we're not talking "Star Wars: A New Pixel" or "LOTR: The fellowship of the pixel" here.

      Now if I'm missing something culturally and MDCs movie title means its an educational video where Barbie hosts the kids visit to a undersea fiber optic cable factory, well then clearly I'm missing out on some classy cinema, and in that case, whoops. I'm sure "Ken loves eating sausage" is all about his visit to the bratwurst factory, admittedly a site best unseen, much like software development.

  • (Score: 5, Touché) by Lagg on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:01PM

    by Lagg (105) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @06:01PM (#221344) Homepage Journal

    I'm having so much trouble believing that anyone actually watches Sandler's excuses to take friends on free vacations at this point that I'm 50% sure this is a PR move to make it seem like there are more pirates than there are (because if X people are getting DMCA'd that must mean there are X * 100 people in the crowd, or at least that's what they think).

    --
    http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:25PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:25PM (#221388)

      The more I hear about DMCA trolls, the more I use piratebay. I'll never pay to see this movie after seeing this news.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:31PM

        by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:31PM (#221392) Homepage

        Wait, people pay to see Adam Sandler movies? He's not funny and he was never fucking funny. Not on his album, not on Saturday Night Live, and especially not in any of his shit movies. If I wanted to hear goo-goo ga-ga baby-talk and yelling all day I'd go hang out with a bunch of Downs' Syndromes and get a superior experience for much less cost.

        Just because you hear canned laughter in the background every time he tells a joke doesn't mean it's actually funny.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Lagg on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:56PM

          by Lagg (105) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:56PM (#221443) Homepage Journal

          Ethanol, I'd never say this to anyone usually but you're such a wholesome and earnest person that I feel I can tell you: I liked him at one point.

          I was smoking entirely too much weed during this time period though.

          That may have had something to do with it.

          --
          http://lagg.me [lagg.me] 🗿
          • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:24PM

            by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:24PM (#221476) Journal

            Same here, I liked Waterboy but to be fair the guy in the apt down the hall had some REALLY good bubble gum smoke and was always giving me some to fix his computer. When i had no more bubble gum? I had no more interest in seeing a Sandler movie.

            BTW everybody should go to one of the pirate sites and watch 10 minutes of Pixels to see just how insanely UNFUNNY a movie can be. Don't think just calling somebody a fag out of the blue is funny, or treating nerds like a jock douchebag in HS would treat them is funny? Well that is pretty much the movie. oh and Sandler is an absolute jerk ass to the woman who is a dozen levels above his pay grade, wanna bet she madly falls in love with him?

            --
            ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
            • (Score: 3, Informative) by M. Baranczak on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:13PM

              by M. Baranczak (1673) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @11:13PM (#221489)
              The original "Pixels", the short film by Patrick Jean, is actually worth watching. I don't even want to think about the things that were done to turn it into an Adam Sandler film.
              • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday August 12 2015, @09:42AM

                by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Wednesday August 12 2015, @09:42AM (#221630) Journal

                I watched 10 min when the stink hit and its pretty much "Douchebag: The Movie". You ever see any of his shitastic films like "That's My Boy"? Well there ya go, references treated as jokes, LOTS of homophobia, lots of really douchey shit from Sandler. Lather rinse repeat.

                --
                ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:12PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:12PM (#221382)

    The current sad oligarchy of internet we have today is lacking. This is exactly why. Other reasons include privacy.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:23PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:23PM (#221431)

      Or run your own server(s) depending on load. Do not use clouds.

      Then you can control your videos/creation. Everyone else will have trouble tracking who visits your site and exactly how popular it is except you.

      And your visitors don't see ads and don't get tracked by spies. The downside is you pay more and have to update your video streaming system from time to time.

      If your business depends on free stuff provided by third parties who are there for business, your business plan is not very good.

      • (Score: 2) by everdred on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:09PM

        by everdred (110) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:09PM (#221450) Journal

        You probably shouldn't rely on a domain name, just to be safe.

        Or an ISP, for that matter.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by terrab0t on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:29PM

      by terrab0t (4674) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:29PM (#221433)

      There is a decent way [mediagoblin.org] to decentralize sites like Vimeo, flickr, etc. Unfortunately, using this on a server you have any control over will never be as easy and accessible as signing up for a free account on one of the existing sites.

      It's possible that MediaGoblin could become as ubiquitous as Wordpress, which can be installed for you with many full‐service web hosting accounts. You could buy a domain name and host a MediaGoblin site for less than $5.00 / month. That would still require more time, money and expertise than most content creators have. Vendors could offer accounts on their shared MediaGoblin sites with free tiers like Vimeo. It would probably get most people past the hurtles of initial money, time and expertise, but they would have to give up some control. Smaller independent sites may still not have time to look into every DMCA claim that hits them.

      The only thing that protects you from this kind of fraud is running your own site, but even if that becomes as streamlined as possible it will always be more expensive than signing up for an account on someone else's.

  • (Score: 2) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:35PM

    by PizzaRollPlinkett (4512) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @07:35PM (#221396)

    We need more of this to show how one-sided, draconian, arbitrary, and unfair this kind of thing is. Unless it hurts the public in some way that gets the attention of individuals, though, it's not going to matter. If some random videos no one has ever heard of before hosted on a service that isn't YouTube get taken down, no one is going to care.

    --
    (E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:18PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:18PM (#221456)

      Yup. My thoughts exactly. Once it starts effecting little Tommy and Jane, it effects every day parents and the **** will start to hit the fan. Until then, its still "someone else's problem" and nothing will change.

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @12:21AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @12:21AM (#221505)

        Once it impacts little Tommy and Jane, we should really consider getting Little Bobby Tables involved. That guy can fix anything.

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:09PM (#221424)

    Get ready to torrent the shit out of that shitty movie. Fuck with us? We fuck with you. Get ready to plaster that warm turd of a Hollywood sphincter-vomit all over every possible sharing medium. "How come no one is watching our shitty movie?, waah waah waah" "Everyone already has, for free. Oh, by the way: choke on a bag of dicks!"

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:45PM (#221435)

      Sorry, but my bandwidth is more dear to me than some hollywood shit. Almost all hollywood movies are meant for generally retarded people.

      I don't watch any hollywood movies, especially "comedies". I've found better things to do with my time.

      • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @12:34AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 12 2015, @12:34AM (#221508)

        Such as laud your own greatness and superiority on Soylent, one would presume.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:12PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:12PM (#221453)

      Why would you think promoting their stuff is retaliation?

      One of the insidious aspects of piracy is that it displaces works under more liberal licenses.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:51PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @08:51PM (#221438)

    Who is that Adam Sandler? O_O

    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:45PM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @09:45PM (#221464) Journal

      The proper question is: "Why is Adam Sandler?"

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:44PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:44PM (#221483)

        You and I have heard of that talentless ass-clown because he is promoted by some.

        The reason he exists has nothing to do with talent, I promise. It has to do with race, unfortunately.

  • (Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:01PM

    by The Archon V2.0 (3887) on Tuesday August 11 2015, @10:01PM (#221470)

    They really should have put out DMCAs against things matching the words "Shitty Adam Sandler Movie". Hell, they'd catch copies of his last few films in that dragnet.

  • (Score: 1) by turonah on Wednesday August 12 2015, @08:37AM

    by turonah (2317) on Wednesday August 12 2015, @08:37AM (#221618)

    ... thousands of Geocities sites, gone in an instant.