After China, Russia is known to be the next worst when it comes to music and video piracy. Hollywood claims to have lost over US$300 million a year as a result of piracy in Russia alone. Apparently, their law does not even prohibit the filming of a cinema showing despite clear warnings being displayed prior to the movie. In fact, a camcorder pirate can sue to recover the cost of their ticket should they get evicted for capturing the screening by simply claiming their footage is for personal use. All it takes is around three days after a premiere such as "The Da Vinci Code" for a camcorder copy to be made available on DVD, followed by a high quality interactive version two days later, both sold on DVD for 150 rubles (~US$5.60).
Despite a sharp increase in police raids across Russia with pressure from Washington on optical disc replication plants and warehouses, piracy is on the rise with double the number of production lines producing pirate discs this year compared with two years ago. However, one major problem the authorities face is that an estimated 90% of licensed factories with CD & DVD production lines produce pirated discs also. The 50 licensed production plans in Russia are capable of producing some 800 million discs per year.
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On this occasion, the pirates won: Three days after the premiere, a grainy, camcorder copy of the movie that cost a reported US$125 million to make was available on DVD for 150 rubles. Two days later, a pristine version with interactive menu was on sale for the same price. The ease with which pirated films, music and software enter the Russian market and the increasingly ingenious means counterfeiters use to get them there are cited by U.S. Commerce Department officials as a US$1.8 billion per year barrier to Russia's entry to the World Trade Organization. Further details can be read on Pravda here. |
If the authorities are having problems trying to tackle CD & DVD disc piracy in Russia, then it seems like the music industry is going to have a much tougher problem tackling online music download services which try to stay within the Russian law, such as AllOfMP3 which pays the licensing fees to distribute their music online. By pirates being freely capable of capture footage of screenings in the cinema shows that this is one area that should be given priority.
Source: Pravda News
This garbage costs 0.5$, no more. As well as other 90% of rubbish produced by Holywood.
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