We have three DVD piracy stories for you this morning, all of them good news for those seeking to make the world safe for the DVDs of tomorrow...
Our first story, from The Hollywood Reporter (via Reuters) tells of a New Zealand man jailed for two years after he pleaded guilty to 21 charges of pirating movies (an activity that involved over 400 movies and "is estimated to have earned him $NZ 150,000 (USD $96,000) annually for each of the last five years").
He also was ordered to pay $NZ 5000 (USD $3,200) in reparation to the NZ Federation Against Copyright Theft. The group's chief executive, Tony Eaton, said that latest research indicated 25% of all DVDs and movies shown in New Zealand are illegal - double what the industry thought.
New Zealand's Times Online adds that "Mr. Houston will be imprisoned but can apply for home detention, which carries strict conditions." They quote Eaton:
“If granted home detention, he’s not allowed to have a computer or access to one, nor an email address, nor allowed to go to an internet café and use email. He would also not be allowed to access or use an ATM. It’s a form of computer, so he’s basically not allowed to use a computer for two years.”
Meanwhile, Canada's Globe and Mail reports that "DVD pirates were dealt a major blow last week... when officers dismantled the largest known movie-copying factory in the country and arrested its alleged ring leader."
Counterfeit movies rob the industry of about $225 million in revenue (Canadian Dollars) and our neighbor to the North has now joined its better known rivals - China, Russia, India and Malaysia - as one of the world's primary purveyors of pirated flicks.
What's different is that the product is now apparently homegrown, rather than being imported from overseas.
Until recently, the main source of pirated movies entering Canada was Hong Kong, said Jim Sweeney, a retired Toronto police officer... The supply line started to change last year, as the advantage of low-cost DVDs, burners and camcorders dawned on pirates here.
And from the satirical Borowitz Report comes word that the films of Tom Cruise have fallen out of favor with Chinese bootleggers.
In the latest ominous sign for the film career of actor Tom Cruise, a large video piracy ring based in Beijing said today that they will no longer sell illegal copies of the star's films, calling Mr. Cruise's recent behavior "unacceptable."
The head of the illegal operation says:
"We have enjoyed a profitable relationship with Mr. Cruise for years by selling copies of his films, often before those films were even released. But after witnessing his antics over the past year or so, even our customers are saying, 'Enough is enough.'"
[He] added that it was getting "harder and harder" to convince people to sit in the back of movie theaters and secretly videotape Tom Cruise films.
"I tried on a number of occasions to get people to secretly tape 'Mission Impossible III,' and after about a half an hour they couldn't take it anymore. Tom Cruise is making it impossible for me to conduct my business."
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[Previously: Mission Monday; Variety: South Korean DVD Anxiety]
[Previously: Gang of Six Sent to Jail for Bogus Flix; The DVD Formerly Known As Bootleg]
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