Movie Theaters Aren't 'Video Tape Service Providers' Under VPPA, District Judge Rules
Movie theater operators don't qualify as “video tape service providers” under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a district court judge ruled Tuesday. Judge Daniel Crabtree dismissed a VPPA suit against AMC after deciding that watching a movie in a theater doesn't mean the theater "delivered" the movie to audience members.
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"People go to the movies, not the other way around," said Crabtree at the U.S. District Court for Kansas. "Nor do movie theaters 'transfer' movies to their patrons. In short, '[m]ovie theaters do not rent movies, sell movies, or deliver movies; they ‘show’ movies.'”
Plaintiffs in case 23-02317 alleged AMC violated the VPPA after "sharing statutorily protected information with Facebook after plaintiffs purchased movie tickets from defendant’s website." But the movie theater argued it was not a “video tape service provider” under the federal statute. Crabtree agreed and closed the case.
In a similar case against Landmark Theaters in March, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also took a narrow view of what it means to be a videotape service provider under VPPA, agreeing that film screenings don't count as a rental, sale or delivery of video materials (see 2503270053).