AfterDawn: News

Italy tops the Western movie piracy charts

According to movie industry publication Screen Daily, Italy manages to top the chart for the highest level of movie piracy in a Western country. According to the magazine, the commercial black market for pirated videos and DVDs is worth approximately 30 percent of country's movie market.

Italy's legal DVD and video sales were worth €417M in 2003, but the pirate film market was worth €250M, according to Italy's anti-piracy watchdog FAPAV. Last year alone, over 300,000 illegal DVDs were seized in police raids across the country, but it is estimated that there are over 4 million pirated (commercial piracy alone, not including the home-burned movies) movies still in circulation.



Source: BBC

Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 2 Feb 2004 14:33

• Previous article

• Movielink offers extended viewing

• Next article

• Grokster-Morpheus P2P case back in court

• 5 comments

• Snake42

  I can just see the headlines now...MPAA sues Italy.

  2.2.2004 15:53 #1

• Nephilim

  I wouldn't put it past them.
  

  Gigabyte 8INXP, Intel P4HT 3.06
  Mushkin 1024 MB PC2100
  Sapphire 9800 Pro
  Plextor PX-708A/Plextor Premium/LTD-166S
  M-Audio Revolution 7.1
  Browning Hi-Power

  2.2.2004 18:24 #2

• #afonic

  The problem is that these copies are made from professionals in order to make A LOT OF money and have nothing to do with a newbie backing up his DVD with DVDXCopy or any program the MPAA are after. The should go after these guys and not the ones that help the user that has paid for his DVD create a backup.

  3.2.2004 00:14 #3

• strcruzer

  But going after the consumer is easier for them, so that is what they do harrass the consumer, the REAL PIRATES are often harder to catch and stop. Isn't the main piracey committed in like Asia or someplace like that? and then they ship them to other countries.
  
  I say that is organized crime really doing this right? Not consumers backing up a few DVD's for themselves. I think they need to stop paying lip service to the members of the RIAA and the MPAA and target the real pirates instead of hurting their sales by harrassing the people that actually purchase the products.

  3.2.2004 07:48 #4

• timwil

  I live in the Bahamas where (they say) we have such a high level of pirating that a major movie studio was refusing to send our local cinemas a first run movie. Turns out that the movies on the street here for sales were being done in New York City at a MAJOR CHAIN.
  
  If this is where the REAL PIRATES are they either don't want to fight them or can't afford to fight them. This sux!

  4.2.2004 08:55 #5