Intertainer files antitrust lawsuit against AOL, Sony and Vivendi.(Brief Article)

TV MEETS THE WEB-(C)2002 Van Dusseldorp & Partners - http://www.vandusseldorp.com/

Movie-on-demand supplier Intertainer has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Sony, AOL Time Warner and Vivendi Universal, alleging price-fixing and conspiracy.

The lawsuit, filed in California says the three have conspired to hinder Intertainer's busines of supplying movies by broadband. It goes on to allege that a group boycott was instituted, stopping the licencing of their movies to Intertainer, so they could launch their own service in competition.

In a statement, Intertainer CEO Jonathan Taplin said that the studios trying to "eliminate consumer choice, produce higher prices, reduce output and lower quality services that would prevail in a competitive market."

Further allegations stated in the suit are that AOL pressured Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema into abandoning deals with Intertainer. Sony is also accused of intellectual infringement, by allegedly using its board-member status to compile insider information for its own Movielink project.

The allegations stem from the fact that Hollywood is terrified of losing control of their products to the digital age. The prevailing view is that unless they fully control the digital distribution of their products, new technologies may let internet users to distribute films and the like for free. The industry's fears have been exacerbated by the music business' protracted battles with Napster and KaZaa.

The main reaction from Hollywood has been the lobbying of lawmakers to pass laws aimed at forcing technology makers to install copy-protection devices in all kinds of hardware. A Department of Commerce report released today disagreed with this stance, stating that it was the responsibility of the industry, not government, to deal with content protection. ((Distributed via M2 Communications Ltd - http://www.m2.com))