[UFO Chicago] TRON Special Edition 20th Anniversary DVD

[Sean Neakums]

begin  Larry Garfield quotation:

> Nate Riffe wrote:
>> 
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>> 
>> On Fri, 21 Dec 2001, Sean Neakums wrote:
>> 
>> > begin  Larry Garfield quotation:
>> >
>> > > Great, $20 for a 20 year old movie.  DVDs are more of a ripoff than
>> > > CDs are.  <sigh>
>> >
>> > It's not like buying a 20-year old car.  It's the same movie it
>> > ever was, and with better picture and sound quality than any VHS
>> > tape.
>> >
>> > Now, if you have objected to the real issues with DVDs, that they
>> > attempt to violate rights granted to owners of copyrighted works
>> > under Federal law, you'd have made a point.
>> 
>> You're just thinking of a different point.  I believe the point
>> Larry was trying to make is that all the work that went into making
>> Tron was finished 20 years ago, but the studio is still profitting
>> from pedro's purchase.  Contrast that to the purchase of a 20 year
>> old car... once the manufacturer (or dealer, whatever) sold the
>> thing, they no longer profit from the subsequent sales of that
>> vehicle.
> 
> Precisely.  The studio made its investment back several times over
> already.  The cost of producing the DVD, plus shipping, packaging,
> and so on totals maybe $4.  25% profit margin brings the retail
> price up to $5.  That's $15 of extortion.  I somehow doubt that
> Bruce Boxlightner (one of the original "artists") sees a dime of
> that.  (And my apologies to TRON and Babylon 5 fans alike if I
> misspelled his name.)

I don't see what your point here is.  The studio owns the copyright in
the movie.  As the holder of the copyright, they are entitled to do
what they like with it, which includes selling it on DVD and making a
handsome profit.

Is it your contention that copyright holders should be permitted by
law to make only a certain amount of money through sales of a
copyrighted work, linked to the amount of money expended in producing
said work?

> Although the Free Speech argument against DVDs in general is
> perfectly valid as well. ;-)

I made no such argument.

-- 
Sean Neakums - <sneakums@ufo.chicago.il.us> --- --- -- -
Director of International Operations, UFO Chicago - -- -
http://ufo.chicago.il.us/ --- ------ ----- ---- --- -- -