Weisser's books and VSoM

[Lang Thompson]

>surprise me more than the people who do not like him. I just wonder if all
>the legalities he mentions in his brochures are true. Is the copying of
>videos and the ditribution of them amongst members of a club legal in the
>U.S.? It's all kind of suspect to me.

You're right it's not.  Not just the "private" club issue (a way that
physical clubs often use to get around alcohol restrictions but that
activity itself is not illegal) but VSOM presents the Berne Convention
competely backwards (foreign videos properly copyrighted in their country
of origin ARE protected by copyright in the US regardless of whether they
were ever "released" here).  Most gray market/bootleg dealers operate
unbothered because they usually deal with pretty obscure films (some
probably with unclear ownership anyway) and because the dealers aren't
operating in the mainstream.  However, VSOM is listed in Maltin's movie
guide and I noticed recently are given as distibutor in the IMDB for over
3000(!) films some of which are certainly not theirs.  

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