Kim Dotcom, the man accused in the biggest case of copyright infringement in U.S. history, criticizes Hollywood studios for failing to effectively utilize Internet technology to distribute their content. The creator of file-sharing website Megaupload.com predicts that Netflix and other companies “will ultimately take over these dinosaurs.” Currently, studios including 20th Century Fox and Disney are suing Dotcom for $100 million. Dotcom is also facing a civil suit from the U.S. government.
Megaupload was one of the most popular destinations on the Internet. At one point, it accounted for 4 percent of all Internet traffic and generated more than $175 million through the exchange of pirated movies, music, and other files, according to the lawsuit filed by movie studios. Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal, Columbia Pictures, and Warner Brothers believe that Dotcom encouraged copyright infringement, but he claims he did everything he could to keep pirates off of his site.
Dotcom says Hollywood actually encourages piracy with outdated business models. For example, films are usually released in one country long before they reach the rest of the world. Movie studios typically fund the production of a movie by “pre-selling distribution rights to different license holders in different countries,” reports Bloomberg.
“Because people don’t get that access, they are looking for the stuff elsewhere,” Dotcome said. “So it’s a problem created by the content creators, I’m not responsible for that.”
He believes the solution is a streaming service at an affordable price that would show studios’ entire content catalogs. Those movies should be available globally on the same day, and they should be able to play on any device. Dotcom thinks movie studios missed out on their chance to profit while companies like Netflix and Apple led the charge.
Meanwhile, Dotcom is facing extradition from New Zealand to the U.S. If convicted of piracy, money laudering, racketeering, and wire fraud, Dotcom could spend up to 88 years in prison. However, his extradition hearing has been postponed due to other ongoing legal battles. That gives him more time to work on his next project, an Internet called “MegaNet,” run by the people for the people.
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