# Movie Studios Suing Zediva according to WSJ Article



## rmedeiros (Mar 23, 2011)

Six Hollywood studios on Monday sued Internet-movie company Zediva, saying the start-up violates copyright law with its system for showing new movies online for $1 or $2.

The company calls its service a DVD-rental operation. But rather than sending DVDs to customers through the mail, as Netflix Inc. and similar services do, Zediva's discs sit in banks of players at a Silicon Valley data center, playing back movies on-demand each time a customer places an order.

Lawyers for the Motion Picture Association of America argued that the transmission over the Internet of movies like "Black Swan" and "Hereafter" constitutes a "public performance"â€”for which an operator like Zediva would need a specific license, which it doesn't have.

Zediva also offers movies as soon as they are released for sale on DVDâ€”often before they become available in Redbox's rental kiosks or via Netflix's mail service. Both Netflix and Coinstar Inc.'s Redbox have agreements with some studios requiring them to wait as long as four weeks after a DVD is released to begin renting them.

The MPAA filed suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, alleging that parent companies WTV Systems Inc., WTV Systems LLC and Chief Executive Venkatesh Srinivasan infringed on its members' copyrights.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704587004576243292661804516.html?mod=dist_smartbrief


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

ray said:


> Six Hollywood studios on Monday sued Internet-movie company Zediva, saying the start-up violates copyright law with its system for showing new movies online for $1 or $2.
> 
> The company calls its service a DVD-rental operation. But rather than sending DVDs to customers through the mail, as Netflix Inc. and similar services do, Zediva's discs sit in banks of players at a Silicon Valley data center, playing back movies on-demand each time a customer places an order.
> 
> ...


It appears Hollywood has taken Zediva's slogan "a most clever and useful middle finger to Holywood" to heart and are returning the jester towards Venky Srinivasan.


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