Morgan Stanley suppresses 'Hunger Games' video

Morgan Stanley is claiming that InvestmentNews violated the firm's copyright by posting a video on its website that was made by the wirehouse to entertain branch managers at a meeting last year. The 10-minute video, a parody of the Hunger Games movies, was removed Monday by the video hosting provider used by InvestmentNews. The hosting provider took the action after receiving a notice from Morgan Stanley lawyers requesting it to do so under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"). Morgan Stanley, which ultimately shelved the video and never aired it at the branch managers meeting, did not respond to repeated requests for comment. InvestmentNews plans to contest the DMCA notice, in recognition of its fair use news reporting rights under US copyright laws. Meanwhile, the video has been reposted on InvestmentNews' website, using another hosting provider. The video was first posted on the InvestmentNews website Feb. 24, and had already been widely viewed before it was taken down. The video showed several executives at the firm's wealth management unit pitting branch managers against each other in a “death match” competition for their jobs that parodied the popular Hunger Games trilogy.