Charges dropped in 'New Moon' taping

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

Cook County prosecutors this morning dropped criminal charges against a Chicago woman who taped a few minutes of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" on her digital camera last month.

Samantha Tumpach, 22, had been facing up to three years in prison had she been found guilty of criminal use of a motion picture exhibition, a felony. Her attorney, Dominick Dolci, said the rarely cited law was meant to combat video piracy, and that Tumpach had taped only a short bit of the film at Rosemont's Muvico Theater while recording the festivities at her sister's birthday party.

-snip-

Rosemont police arrested Tumpach at the insistence of the theater's management, Dolci said. She spent two nights in the Rosemont police station before a judge ordered her released, he said. Tumpach has retained civil attorneys and is contemplating legal action, Dolci said.

The film's director, Chris Weitz, has come to Tumpach's defense.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/12/twilight-saga-new-moon-videotape.html

I can see why Tumpach would want some payback for being held two nights for taping four minutes of video.

OTOH, I bet it's the last time she'll host a party in a theatre where other people are trying to watch a movie they paid to see. :eyes:

[Pab Sungenis]

1. The actual crime in this case

is the bringing of a video camera into the theater itself, whether or not they "accidentally" got a few frames of the film on their tape.

Most cities and I think most states passed these anti-taping laws mid-decade to cut down on piracy.

What should have happened was that if they were seen with the camera it should have been confiscated while the show was going on, then returned. That was the policy we had when I ran my movie theater. This case went much further than needed.

[cowcommander]

2. Does that law apply to cameraphones as well?

I find it hard to imagine how that can be properly enforced, with so many small videorecording devices available these days.

[Pab Sungenis]

3. Yes, it does.

If you're caught operating a cameraphone in a theater you can be ejected, and arrested if you refuse to leave.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

5. That's good to know, thanks

I've been inundated with reporting about this arrest, it being a local story here, but don't recall any report that clarified that distinction. Even in the OP link her attorney emphasizes the brevity of her recording.

[Pab Sungenis]

6. Piracy is so widespread that theater owners are justifiably worried.

Go look at the Pirate Bay and I guarantee you'll find at least camcorder recordings, if not digital film transfers, of every movie that came out today by tomorrow night. It's devastating ticket revenues, which were already dropping badly because the studios force the prices so high.

This was mishandled by the theater, yes, but also misreported by the press.

[newtothegame]

4. Geez..must be nice to be a guaranteed millionaire. n/t