At the beginning of most DVDs this pops up:
I doubt you’ve ever read it. Most people ignore it, I’m sure, and I certainly would. However, if it is on your screen for around 10 seconds you can’t just ignore it. That would be rude, so I feel inclined to give just a little bit of my attention to the notice, (someone spent time typing it, after all) and so this was when I noticed the words “oil rig” in the middle of it.
Why can films not be shown on oil rigs without the copyright holder’s permission? I bet the workers watch films at home. And there can only be so many hours aboard an oil rig where you find staring at a pressure gauge interesting. They need something to enjoy! And they aren’t allowed to watch a movie.
I felt so strongly about this I did some research – searching Google “why can’t films be shown on oil rigs“. There isn’t much. So I replaced “film” in my search for the word “movie”, because American’s prefer the word movie. And I found one result on a discussion site.
Someone had had the exact same “huh?” moment as me, and a few people (two) had answered. Here is what they said:
Well, some oil rigs are really big. Some of them have over 500 employees on board, and some of them have cinemas. I’m sure the line you are referring to has something to do with that: although the cinema on an oil rig might not technically be a cinema (the boss pays for it, it is outside of territorial waters, etc.), the producers of the movie still want it to appear that way.
But I don’t think there is any formal inspection on the matter, although it can be argued that an American oil rig is subject to American law wherever it is, just as this is the case with ships (I’m assuming this is all true. It does apply to Dutch oil rigs and ships, however.)
Posted by Coldfire
They have cinemas on board! It’s like a cruise ship. Someone should notify Michael O’Leary, maybe he could do package cruises on them.
Then someone else wades in:
Yeah – it’s clearly aimed at “public” showings. The rig owners would not just be showing to their own employees but a lot of other contractors too. I used to work offshore though and never remember seeing that warning but then probably was not reading the intro stuff too closely given the subject matter of most of the video library!
Hmmmm. I suppose a distinct lack of women for months at a time…
Anyway, he then went on to talk about which country governs an oil ship, in a trackback to Mr Coldfire:
BTW I am pretty sure that – apart from drillships – US (or any other flag state) drilling rigs ARE NOT automatically governed by their flag law. Certainly this is not the case in the Dutch sector of north-sea or any other EEZ I am aware of which would all follow local law. What commercial/contract law is applicable in the contractual chain that brought them to that location in the first place is at the choice of the parties concerned. If a murder took place though it would be local law. In international waters outside any claimed EEZ though it might be different. Rigs are not generally governed by the international marine conventions applicable to ships – not that the US have ratified too many of them anyway!
Posted by notquitekarpov
So there we go. Now we kind of know.
I also found a discussion on the matter in the Malcolm In The Middle fan forum. Who knew Malcolm In The Middle fans discussed such important topics on their own special website? The old woman who lived in a show gets mentioned,which is nice.
Footnote: The WARNING message also prohibits use in schools, coaches and clubs. I have seen DVDs with this message on in all of these environments. I am a law-breaking rebel. A bit like when Tesco sold me a Gavin & Stacey boxset which was a 15, when I was 14. They should be fined.
