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Saturday, March 06, 2010

Ind. Law - Still more on: "Movie rental kiosks hit with legal threats: Video stores say children can rent mature films at kiosk competitors" [Updated]

Updating this March 5, 2010 ILB entry, this article posted March 5th in Home Media Magazine gives the industry perspective on the recent brohaha. It begins:

The Vanderburgh County, Ind., prosecuting attorney decided March 5 to drop his case against DVD kiosks, a case in which retailers with Redbox and MovieCube kiosks had been threatened with felony prosecution if they did not remove DVDs rated higher than ‘G’ that could possibly be accessed by minors.

Calling it “a virtual certain not guilty verdict,” Vanderburgh County prosecuting attorney Stanley Levco said he reached his decision after reviewing case law and speaking with members of his community.

“The kiosks have protections in place to restrict access [of objectionable DVDs] to minors, and there was a strong community objection to filing,” he said. “I don’t believe a jury would have convicted.”

Letters from Levco’s office were sent to about a dozen county retailers with DVD kiosks in January, warning them to remove DVDs rated above ‘G,’ or face felony charges under Indiana state law. Levco’s office was prompted to send the letters by the owner of a chain of local video stores.

“The county prosecutor wisely refused to take the bait from competitors,” said attorney Larry Mackey, who is representing both Redbox and MovieCube operator NCR Corp. in Indiana.

[Updated 3/7/10] Here is a response from the Video Buyers Group, published in today's Evansville Courier & Press. And here is a letter headed "No on kiosk issue: Such regulation is a waste of time and taxpayer money."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 6, 2010 11:21 AM
Posted to Indiana Law