Charges dropped against woman who filmed New Moon in theater, Summit releases statement

Posted by Andrew on December 11th, 2009 | Comments (12)

The woman who was charged with attempting to pirate New Moon in theaters several weeks ago has had the charges against her dropped:

Cook County prosecutors on Friday announced in court that they won’t pursue charges against Samantha Tumpach.

Tumpach was arrested Nov. 28 in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont and faced a felony charge of illegally copying the film.

She had about three minutes of “New Moon” on her digital camera. Tumpach has said she was taping her sister’s birthday party and wasn’t trying to record the movie.

Additionally, Summit has released a statement about the outcome of this case:

In regards to the situation with Samantha Tumpach, we applaud Muvico for upholding the zero tolerance policy on piracy when the incident occurred at their theater in Rosemont, IL. The pirating of films is a very serious issue and we all need to remain vigilant to protect the art of film and the myriad of businesses that the film industry supports. We believe that the attention that this incident has drawn, has served as a reminder to us all that any form of film piracy, or perceived piracy, will be treated with the utmost seriousness. Summit is pleased that all charges against Ms. Tumpach have been dropped and appreciate the efforts of the police and the prosecutors in this outcome.

12 Comments

The question is, why would she want to see New Moon in the first place? Hmmmm…

I’m hoping since you are making a comment on this sight you have seen the movie graceless otherwise what are you doing here and if you have seen the movie you should know why she saw it, she’s a fan and even though she is obviously a roudy movie goer she wanted to see the flim with her sister and family on her sister’s birthday, it’s a sweet gesture.

Yeah, cuz she’s the only one who tried to pirate the movie….let’s just say every1 I know has it in DVD allready!

I’m assuming you meant to write the word “Site” because the word “sight” in your context doesn’t make any sense.
By the way, I have unfortunately seen New Moon after getting dragged there by a twihard. I’m just asking.

oh please, there are people out there taping the entire film and ur gonna arrest this woman who has 3 minutes of it on her digital camera???

I’m a little confused… I don’t know the details of this story, but how could she have been trying to tape her sister’s birthday party (or just birthday?). I’m not necessarily saying I don’t believe her, just that I’m confused as to how that works.

Also, I agree with some of the other comments. I get that movie piracy is a big deal and that they have to deal with situations as if they were a big deal, but really, 3 minutes? The people in the theatre were right to say/do something but I don’t think there should have been any charges.

Ashley, they rented the theater for a private birthday party. That’s why they were taping/photographing the birthday party and happened to catch New Moon on video. She was not disturbing the general public with her talking and filming during the movie because her group was the only one in the theater (at least that is my understanding).

Was the theater right to stop her? You bet. File charges? No way. Make examples of people who are trying to copy the movie to sell, not of people who catch a few minutes on tape during a special event. The theater management just looked stupid. According to Tumpach, the police were very nice and even they thought it was a bogus charge. Notice Summit said nothing until after the charges were dropped? They knew nothing would come of it since there was no intent.

Oh, okay, thanks for the info Erin. I looked around trying to find the original news post but couldn’t find anything that explained in more detail.

omg i never realized, the woman got arrested at the theatre right by my house! that’s the theatre i always go too! weird….