Iron Man Screening, Piracy and Tech Crunch

This morning I read on the Tech Crunch site that they got a Cease and Desist letter from Marvel asking them not to move forward with their Iron Man Screening. Now, what's really interesting is that they worked directly with the Paramount on this (distributor)so it was not as if they were trying to sneak this sneak in(sorry).


What in the world is Marvel afraid of? Piracy? Bad word-of-mouth is all I can come up with. Does someone think that there's going to be a CAM recording the movie for inclusion in a torrent bit stream or newsgroups? Come on. Here's what Marvel should be thinking, but apparently they are still very much of the old media mentality which is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

Frankly, a torrent of copy of this movie running around the planet is NOT a bad thing. There's absolutely nothing you can do about it, and unless you see ticket or DVD sales significantly dipping off then I don't think there's anything you *should* do about it. The torrents act as advertisements for the superior DVD product. At worst most of your downloads are going to people who wouldn't have bought the DVD in the first place and who will, if they enjoy it, rave about it to others. Isn't that the ultimate form of advertising? There is no substitute for great word-of-mouth.

Marvel would be better off spending their time and energy SUPPORTING Tech Crunch's efforts than trying to kill it off. Old media guarding the door that's been wide open now for years.

UPDATE: Screening is now back on after a $2K legal bill and discussions between Marvel, Paramount and Oracle. Who 'da thunk?