Screeners ban lifted: indies win

A federal judge freed movie distributors to send copies of films to awards voters -- a decision seen as a victory for independent film producers as awards season approaches.US District Judge Michael B. Mukasey lifted a rule imposed by the Motion Picture Association of America that blocked studios from sending the copies, or "screeners," to voters.The MPAA had argued that the ban, issued in September, was a means of slowing the explosion of movie piracy. Digital copies of many films turn up on th...