Amazon released a "Lord of the Rings" show titled "The Rings of Power." Unless you have subscribed to the company's streaming service, you won't be able to watch it elsewhere, aside from, of course, pirate sites. The retail giant is taking legal action to make sure the show stays exclusive.
Amazon Against Pirates
The company is going after the operators of the pirate sites that are selling DVD copies of "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power." Filed in US District Court for the Central District of California, the defendant is Yangchun Zhang from China.
However, Zhang is not the only one Amazon is suing. DVDShelf and Media Wholesale UK are also included in the lawsuit. The retail company claims that the accused are selling low-quality pirated copies which could "jeopardize Amazon's reputation for quality."
As mentioned in Ars Technica, the lawsuit states that the defendants "openly sell pirated and infringing DVDs containing unauthorized copies of the Amazon Series," also adding the fact that the streaming service has not released the show on DVD.
Several websites showed that the pirated version of the series was being sold online, with the first season costing $29.95. All seven of the mentioned websites have since removed the listings, but the retail giant is still suing for financial damages.
The lawsuit states that as the sites distribute the exclusive Amazon Prime Video content, the defendants were illegally reproducing and distributing copyrighted content, as well as infringing numerous other aspects of Amazon's intellectual property.
The argument is well founded, and the company does have the grounds to sue the pirate sites, but it's unlikely that it's solely for its potential to "jeopardize Amazon's reputation for quality." It could also be the fact that the profits are going to the site operators instead of the e-commerce company.
'Ring of Power' Ratings
Amazon poured a lot of resources into the show, so it's understandable why the company wants so badly for it to be a success, and for them to profit from it. With the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's work and the first season's budget, Amazon spent around $715 million for the first season.
Compared to the fantasy series "Game of Thrones," only $50 million to $60 million was spent to create the first season, and it was a resounding success. "The Rings of Power" show, on the other hand, is not getting the same attention, even with an already existing fanbase.
Critics were happy with the first season, but the audience wasn't as enthusiastic with a 38% average audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Although it did gather over 25 million viewers when it was released, not everyone got to the end.
Only around 37% of the viewers from the US completed the shows from the first episode to the last, while 45% outside the US finished the series. For a show that costs hundreds of millions to make, those aren't generally good numbers for the company that funded it.
