Sony Lets Grouper Offer Copyrighted Film Snippets
Posted on November 9, 2006
News.com reports that Sony Pictures Entertainment is allowing Grouper to let bloggers embed copyrighted film snippets from 100 films. Examples of some of the snippets include a clip containing Jack Nicholson's famous line from A Few Good Men, "You can't handle the truth!" and the "Show Me the Money" scene from Jerry Maguire.
Grouper.com, acquired last August by Sony Pictures Entertainment, is offering snippets from 100 Sony films and TV shows for users to integrate into blogs and on social networking sites such as MySpace, the company said Thursday.You can see the clips on Grouper's new ScreenBites channel. News.com says Sony is hoping the the short film clips will encourage people to buy the full-length films. There are a few TV clips on ScreenBites as well, including clips from Married With Children.***
This is the latest attempt to solve the copyright issue plaguing the video-sharing sector. Hollywood studios and other media companies are cracking down on sites that allow users to upload their copyright material without compensating them.
Universal Music Group filed suit against Grouper and Bolt.com for allowing users to post UMG's copyright material on those sites. Video sharing's largest player, YouTube, was sued last summer by a Los Angeles journalist after he saw several postings on the site of a video he shot of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.