Film theft in the UK - Future of Copyright

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12 around 80% of total customers), making its film service the most popular outside of the US. Free-to-air television is generally considered the final point in the value chain, where films are broadcast on one of the five terrestrial TV channels. It is worth noting that, while the growing revenues generated by the different distribution elements that comprise the UK film industry are impressive, these gross numbers do not always translate into similarly impressive profitability. Indeed, the economics of the industry can often be fragile, particularly as the cost side of the business continues to escalate. From this perspective, the threat of piracy and the spectre of associated lost revenues is an especially worrying prospect. Film piracy in the UK Piracy at any stage in this process can cause the film industry to sustain heavy financial losses across the whole value chain. If consumers are able to acquire and view a film title illegally, the incentive to see and acquire that film by legitimate means is diluted; whether in the cinema, on DVD/video (rented or purchased), or pay-TV. Also, the logical extension of this argument is that the earlier the pirated copy appears in a film’s business lifecycle, the heavier the potential revenue loss is likely to be. Essentially, the earlier the act of piracy is, the greater is the number of ‘windows’ of exploitation that become vulnerable to diminished revenues. Physical piracy Physical piracy, as it stands at the moment, is the manufacture and distribution of illegally copied movies on either videocassette or optical disc (mainly DVD, DVD-R and CD-R). These illegal copies are typically traded in high street shops (as ‘under the counter’ trade), on the Internet, in street markets and car boot sales, or by vendors operating on the street. Physical piracy is of particular concern to the movie industry, given that the home video market is the most lucrative single window in the film value chain. There are two main sources for this type of piracy: • Professional piracy operations • Consumer home copying Professional piracy Large-scale professional piracy, usually the domain of organised crime, with profits being channelled into other criminal activities, has received considerable legal attention in recent years (examined in the next chapter). The Asia Pacific region has been identified as a key base for importing counterfeit films into the UK. According to the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), the main sources of imported pirate DVDs in the UK are now Pakistan (36%), Malaysia (31%) and China (14%). Pakistan has now become one of the world’s leading exporters of pirate optical discs of all kinds and is known to have eight illegal facilities in operation. In 2003, these facilities produced upwards of 180 million discs, far in excess of local market demand. Pakistan’s sociogeographical position in the Middle East makes this of exceptional concern. According to local sources, optical disc piracy appears to be taking over from drug trafficking as a low risk high yield source of revenue for criminal elements in Pakistan and, according to some sources, by international terrorist groups. FACT representatives have stated that film piracy in London is believed to be feeding Chinese organised crime and human trafficking. More recently, Russia has joined the ranks of those countries supplying large amounts of illegal copies of films. The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has estimated that Russian
800.0 700.0 600.0 500.0 400.0 300.0 200.0 100.0 0.0 3,500.0 3,000.0 2,500.0 2,000.0 1,500.0 1,000.0 500.0 0.0 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 UK annual box office turnover (£m) 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 UK annual consumer video spending (all formats) (£m) 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Source: Screen Digest from industry sources UK annual PPV movies revenue (£000) Film theft in the UK | 13
Page 1 and 2: Film theft in the UK Anti-Piracy Ta
Page 3: Contents 1 Chair’s foreword . . .
Page 6 and 7: 4 1 Chair’s foreword The pirate i
Page 8 and 9: 6 2 Executive summary The ability t
Page 10 and 11: 8 enforcement strategy remains suff
Page 12 and 13: 10 4 Film theft in the UK: the curr
Page 16 and 17: 14 DVD plants are capable of manufa
Page 18 and 19: 16 12.0 10.0 8.0 6.0 4.0 2.0 0.0 po
Page 20 and 21: 18 calculated. Some sources quote l
Page 22 and 23: 20 argue that, while most music con
Page 24 and 25: 22 more than two weeks before its o
Page 26 and 27: 24 subsequently reduced this activi
Page 28 and 29: 26 Piracy in the UK in a European c
Page 30 and 31: 28 5 Combating film theft There are
Page 32 and 33: 30 Patents Act 1988 (CDPA) (as amen
Page 34 and 35: 32 has made profits from the infrin
Page 36 and 37: 34 measures, special requirements r
Page 38 and 39: 36 a notice is served for infringin
Page 40 and 41: 38 screened in their cinemas. Howev
Page 42 and 43: 40 the local authority order to cea
Page 44 and 45: 42 successfully stop suspects tryin
Page 46 and 47: 44 WARNING FROM THE FEDERATION AGAI
Page 48 and 49: 46 Developing new business models N
Page 50 and 51: 48 6 Consumer issues What some educ
Page 52 and 53: 50 Enforcement Group (IEG) 61 , has
Page 54 and 55: 52 judge would then be able to awar
Page 56 and 57: 54 The film industry In the short t
Page 58 and 59: 56 focusing on the links between pi
Page 60 and 61: 58 Action plan Implementation date
Page 62 and 63: 60 Action plan (continued) Implemen
Page 64 and 65:
62 Appendices Appendix i: Lessons f
Page 66 and 67:
64 enable them to jump into any bus
Page 68 and 69:
66 lodged by Test-Achats. Aside fro
Page 70 and 71:
68 against hundreds of large-scale
Page 72 and 73:
70 files for an annual fee. While a
Page 74 and 75:
72 charges in a similar DeCSS case
Page 76 and 77:
74 Appendix iii: Copyright and Rela
Page 78 and 79:
76 technological measures, dealing
Page 80 and 81:
78 Appendix v: Signatories of the M
Page 82 and 83:
80 recording device that stores pro
Page 84 and 85:
82 However, it has endeavoured to m
Page 86 and 87:
84 of Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. Th
Page 88 and 89:
86 13 See http://www.iipa.com/pdf/2
Page 90 and 91:
88 Member States to ensure the conf
Page 94:
10 Little Portland Street London W1
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Film theft in the UK - Future of Copyright

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