Film theft in the UK - Future of Copyright

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6 Consumer issues
What some education and awareness initiatives
have so far failed to acknowledge is that
consumers who buy or download pirated films
may well be more aware of the issues than they
are given credit for. Specifically, they may be
aware of the illegality of the act, the link with
organised crime and the content quality risks
they may be running in acquiring counterfeit
products. As will be explained in Appendix i
(‘Lessons from the music industry’), the latest
surveys suggest that most people across
Europe know that nearly all file-swapping is
illegal.
Increased consumer awareness of the issues
involved in piracy needs to be complemented
with an understanding of consumer demand.
One needs to only go back 20 years, when
Universal Studios tried unsuccessfully to bury
VCR home recording under a mountain of
litigation, to see that many of the issues and
fears arising today are just the latest symptom
of the tension between the film industry’s
desire to protect existing revenue streams and
the development of new technologies.
It may be necessary to recognise that the digital
age has brought to an end an era during which
the industry could fully dictate the chain of
distribution from theatrical release to home
video to TV. It has ushered in an era in which
the business needs to be more understanding
of consumer demands and to communicate
accordingly on that level: whether in terms of
pricing, value proposition of content, the
quality of films made, or the impact of piracy as
something other than a ‘victimless crime’.
The extent of the challenge can be illustrated
by the campaigning tactic of trying to attach
‘victims’ to piracy. This approach has been to
point out the economic loss to the industry, a
message that can perhaps appear contradictory
in the context of an industry that thrives on a
historic image of glamour, wealth and
superstardom.
Respect for the consumer in the field of
copyright has been a point of debate for many
years, especially in the US. At what point does
tackling piracy end and infringement of a
consumer’s moral, civil and human rights
begin? A number of organisations have taken
the entertainment content industries to task on
some of these issues. The Home Recording
Rights Coalition (HRRC) and the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF) have both been vocal
advocates of protecting consumer rights – and
have considerably raised public awareness of
the issues. However, both bodies have been
criticised for having more than just consumer
interests at heart – allegedly upholding the
vested interests of specific industry sectors
(primarily consumer electronics manufacturers,
IT, retailer and Internet interests).
Established in 1981, and supported by
consumer electronics, Information Technology
and retailer organisations, the HRRC was
instrumental in a landmark legal victory in
1984, when Sony defeated Hollywood