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Press Release Contacts: Pete Livingston, Ph.D.
Web: www. NotTheEnemy.com
Bill Simpich
Friday, December 06, 2002
On Thursday December 5 Pete Livingston filed suit in U.S. District Federal Court in San Francisco seeking declaratory relief to uphold his right to distribute the documentary “Over 9 Billion Dead Served.” The feature length film, a passionate anti-war commentary that exposes anti-Black and anti-Arab stereotypes, and is almost entirely comprised of clips from the 25 biggest box office movies. Dr. Livingston contends that his film is protected by the Fair Use Doctrine. Fair Use Doctrine, is designed to protect the use of copyrighted material without permission for the purposes of criticism and education. Livingston’s company, Not the Enemy Media, is currently being blocked by threats of litigation from Fox Entertainment Group, Columbia, and Universal Studios. Film companies have denied Livingston permission to use even a single frame of their material. Universal went so far as to demand that Dr. Livingston tear apart his documentary and remove the portions of their material.
The lawyers representing Livingston are Bill Simpich, Tesfaye Tsadik, and Jim Wheaton. Bill Simpich says, “This film gives the filmmakers’ lenses a 180 degree spin and exposes them as creators of the mindset that leads Americans to war. There is no better evidence of this than the footage itself. Nothing less will do.”
Livingston says, “This all began as an empirical examination of feature films, but it soon became clear that the examples and issues presented in these films could not be believably addressed using words in a book or in articles. The imagery of these films are often amazing and horrifying in ways that requires the transformative use of the original (copyrighted) material to convey. Literally, you’ve got to see it to believe it. We believe that under the First Amendment and the rules of the fair use doctrine, that this analysis is permitted and that the events like the shooting at Columbine, the September 11th attacks, and the subsequent war in Afghanistan demand it.”
The documentary indicates that in these movies, Hollywood filmmakers have illustrated the mass murder of over nine billion people. In the same movies, only one baby was born (and survived). Livingston claims these movies have drawn on various negative stereotypes, including “black,” “Arab,” and “Nazi”, to make killing not only tolerable, but often amusing.”
Many of studios that made these films take exception to Livingston’s use of the images. “They want to cash in on death, dying, and remorseless murder, but they don’t want to take any responsibility for what they’ve done. My position is that the cost of exploiting the corporate welfare afforded by copyright ought to be self-exposure to unlimited criticism using the copyrighted material. If the studios don’t like covering that token non-cost, maybe they shouldn’t indulge in the use of stereotypes to capitalize on the fanciful slaughter of billions of innocent people in the first place.”
The top twenty five movies (as of 1997) as analyzed in this documentary are:
|
1 |
Star
Wars (1977) |
|
2 |
E.T.
(The Extra-Terrestrial) (1982) |
|
3 |
Jurassic
Park (1993) |
|
4 |
Forrest
Gump (1993) |
|
5 |
The
Lion King (1993) |
|
6 |
Return
of the Jedi (1983) |
|
7 |
Independence
Day |
|
8 |
The
Empire Strikes Back (1980) |
|
9 |
Home
Alone (1990) |
|
10 |
Jaws
(1975) |
|
11 |
Batman
(1989) |
|
12 |
Raiders
of the Lost Ark (1981) |
|
13 |
Twister |
|
14 |
Beverly
Hills Cop (1984) |
|
15 |
Ghostbusters
(1984) |
|
16 |
Mrs.
Doubtfire (1993) |
|
17 |
Ghost
(1990) |
|
18 |
Aladdin
(1992) |
|
19 |
Back
to the Future (1985) |
|
20 |
Terminator
2: Judgment Day (1991) |
|
21 |
Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) |
|
22 |
Gone
With the Wind (1939) |
|
23 |
Toy
Story (1995) |
|
24 |
Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) |
|
25 |
Dances
With Wolves (1990) |
For more information please click to http://www.nottheenemy.com/
For information about Jim Wheaton’s The First Amendment Project, please click to http://www.thefirstamendment.org/)