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DVDs Returned To Sender, Pirates May Need Public Defender

Our second story about DVD piracy today: we just learned from Canada's Winnipeg Free Press about some very dumb DVD pirates who sold fake copies of popular TV series online, mostly full season sets of TV shows like "Ally McBeal," "The Carol Burnett Show," "Little House on the Prairie" and "The Six Million Dollar Man."

The prices charged for these fake DVDs was high... two hundred dollars or more for all the episodes of an entire series. The chief appeal here seems to have been the availability of many series which are not legitimately available online or in retail stores.

But there was a wide variance in the quality of the DVDs they sold, most of which were apparently recorded from cable or satellite TV broadcasts. One disappointed customer said "they were so amateurish it looked like a 10-year-old did it."

The Free Press picks up the story:

Some, like an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, are picture perfect -- although it includes in the lower right corner the SoapNet channel insignia from which the show was dubbed.

Others, like an episode of The Six Million Dollar Man, look like they've been recorded onto a videotape using the slow speed and then dubbed onto DVD.

But the shoddiest example is the packaging of the Newhart show.

In Newhart, Bob Newhart played the owner of an inn in Vermont, and that's what the writeup on the package says. But the packaging on the pirated DVD features photographs of him from his earlier TV show, playing a psychologist.

So... I know what you're thinking. Shoddy quality, poor packaging... those are the hallmarks of nearly every video pirate. What's so dumb about that?

Well, when customers were unhappy with the quality of the dodgy DVDs, they shipped them back to the return address on the box, which just happened to be the offices of the Winnipeg Free Press.

As they said in their coverage, "If you want to keep it secret that you're selling pirated DVDs, it's probably not a good idea to use a major Canadian newspaper as your return address."

(The Free Press first disclosed this information a couple of weeks ago, but we just found out about it now while catching up on news we missed at TV Shows on DVD. We're a couple of weeks late, but the story was simply too good not to pass on.)

[Previously: Drug Dealers Forgo Blow For DVD Plunder Down Under]

Drug Dealers Forgo Blow For DVD Plunder Down Under

A lot of interesting stories about DVD piracy cross our desk here at the DVD Dossier. But none have caught our attention quite like the startling news we received this morning from Australia.

The Herald Sun reports that police raided two DVD shops in Melbourne, where they seized 400,000 pirated DVDs, CDs and PlayStation games, along with 100 DVD burners. The shops had been set up in homes, where customers could choose DVDs from a catalog of titles that included recent hits "I Am Legend" and "American Gangster."

These shops were incredibly successful. In fact, there was so much activity surrounding the homes that it soon aroused the suspicions of neighbors, who suspected they were selling drugs and reported it to the police. The Herald Sun picks up the story from there:

Commander Terry Purton said DVD piracy was proving so lucrative that criminals were shifting from drug trafficking to DVD trafficking.

"They are making an obscene profit,'' Commander Purton told reporters. "They are producing DVDs for 20 cents and selling them for $10.''

"They thought with the increased traffic, people coming and going, that they were selling drugs,'' Mr Purton said.  "But people selling these DVDs are making more money than what drug dealers are.

So, kids, when that guy in the schoolyard tries to recruit you to sell crack or crystal meth, Just Say No.

(Hold out for a more lucrative gig hawking bootleg copies of the Director's Cut of Blade Runner.)

Is He Smarter Than A 5th Grade Teacher?

By now, we've all heard the reports of Michael Moore's new documentary 'Sicko" being made available for illegal download on the internets.

Moore himself has been quoted as saying that he doesn't believe in copyright laws and that he thinks they're too restrictive. And many of the sites where "Sicko" is available do indeed feature this quote from the director:

"I don’t agree with the copyright laws and I don’t have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it with people as long as they’re not trying to make a profit off my labor. I would oppose that...”

The pirates say that they're only following the Gospel according to Michael and allowing more people to see the film. Maybe so, but it still isn't legal.

The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate, who are distributing the film, were successful in having the pirated copies removed from youtube and other sites where they appeared.

And Moore himself has since clarified his statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

"Every filmmaker intends for his film to be seen on the big screen," Moore said. "This wasn't a guy taking a video camera into a theater. This was an inside job, a copy made from a high-quality master and could potentially impact the opening weekend box office. Who do you think benefits from that?"

As for the box office take, Variety says that "Sicko" is "socko," earning more than $70,000 from just one New York theatre (where the film opened a week early). The national release was this weekend, so it's a bit too soon to tell how the widespread piracy will affect box office grosses.

But what brings us to write about "Sicko" on this lazy Sunday is Anthony Ehresmann.

Who is Anthony Ehresmann? (We had never heard of him, either.)

In addition to enjoying "hunting, youth baseball and science," Ehresmann is a member of the Moose Lodge and apparently a very patriotic American (you can tell because there's a large flag behind him in this photo).

Like millions of other Americans, Anthony has a blog.

And today he's linked to a site that's offering an illegal download of Michael Moore's latest film. What makes him different than the thousands of others who have done the same thing?

Ehresmann is a candidate (D) for City Council in Urbana, Ohio.

In his blog post, he urges people to download the film for their personal "non-commercial" use only, but he doesn't seem to understand that downloading the film for free - for any use, from any source - is illegal (as is showing a pirated copy of "Shrek 3" to a class of 5th graders).

Oh, sure, it could be argued that what you do in the privacy of your own home is between you and your conscience, but surely he understands that he's running for city council, ferchrissakes, and his decisions will fall under public scrutiny... what was he thinking?

Is that the sound judgment the people of Urbana's Second Ward want for their City Council?

(By the way, Mr. Ehresmann would also like you to know he'll be offering a free screening of the film on July 27th at Wright State University. We e-mailed him to find out whether that was something he had authorized with the distributor or whether he will simply be showing a bootleg copy he found online. We'll let you know if we hear back.)

--------------------
Update 7/01/07 4:56 PM

We heard from Mr. Ehresmann, who responds via e-mail:

I'm not showing the movie... Mr. Michael Moore is, with his wife and friends according to news releases.

I screened the movie online at the Atlantic Free Press website after receiving a news alert from Democrats.org.

In the spirt [sic] of, and out of respeact [sic] for Mr. Moore I have made no money from his movie. I have only passed on the link.

Fair enough. But the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted material is still illegal, whether or not you personally believe it should be and regardless of whether or not you have personally profited from the act.

And please excuse our confusion, but when we read this on your blog, Mr. Ehresmann...

PS-I will be showing SICKO free of charge at Wright State University on July 27 at 6:30pm. Democrats, some Doctor friends of my wife's, and every Democrat you know are invited!

...we naturally assumed the use of the phrase "I will be showing SICKO" meant that, well, you would be showing the film, it being your blog and all. You're listed as the author of the post and your site proclaims proudly that all content is "provided and approved" by you.

Nowhere do you say that the postscript has been cut and pasted from somewhere else (the only place we've been able to find that specific text, by the way, is on your site and the Champaign County Ohio Democrats site... and they're simply re-publishing your RSS feed).

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Update 7/01/07 6:43 PM

Ehresmann has now updated his blog post in an attempt to make it somewhat clearer that Moore is holding a free screening of the film, not he. He also now begins his entry with this disclaimer:

The Following was an email I got on the 30th

In addition, he has added the following puzzling paragraph to the end of his post:

I do not condone pirated movies by any means. I'm like millions of others who visit YouTube and other sites like it to view videos and pass along links to the ones I liked to others. I do not personaly [sic] provide downloads. I would like to thank someone who emailed me named Michael(not Michael Moore)for pointing out potential problems with this post...again thank you.

You don't "condone pirated movies by any means?"

We're a wee bit confused by that statement, Mr. Ehresmann, since the title of your post encourages your readers to "Download Michael Moore's 'Sicko' ...Free."

Had the title of your post been "Run To Your Local Cinema To See Michael Moore's Latest Film," we may have been more sympathetic to your argument.

--------------------
Update 7/02/07 1:51PM

Oh, dear. He's apparently removed the post from his blog entirely, perhaps unaware that it's in Google's cache as displayed on the Champaign County Ohio Democrats site (from his RSS feed).

Caveat Emptor: You May Have Seen That New Film Before

Reports circulated widely around the internets today that "Spider-Man 3," due out in theaters May 4th, had been pirated and was already on sale in China.

Sony Pictures took their time, but finally issued an official statement tonight saying that the report was absolutely untrue and suggested that what we're really dealing with here is a quality control issue among DVD pirates:

"Contrary to news reports about stolen copies of Spider-Man 3 being sold illegally on the streets in China, our investigation in China has revealed no case of the film being pirated to date.

Similar hoaxes and false alarms have occurred prior to the release of other major films. We have uncovered examples of Spider-Man 2 being sold in Spider-Man 3 boxes in China. But thus far we can find no instance where Spider-Man 3 has appeared on DVD."

So, there are two lessons here:

1) Buyer beware... that pirated DVD may be fake.

2) When the best spin your Media Relations department can put on your video piracy problem is that pirates haven't yet managed to copy your big blockbuster hit, you have a major piracy problem and a minor Media Relations department.

Short Takes

Blu-ray has surpassed HD DVD in terms of high definition disc sales in the USA, although very narrowly (100 Blu-ray discs for every 98.1 HD DVDs), while the story is considerably different across the pond: in England, HD DVD outsold Blu-ray last year by a ratio of 4 to 1 (via Engadget)...

Paul Sweeting in Video Business says hold on, it's too early to declare a winner in the high def format wars...

Scott Burns - writing in the Dallas Morning News - explains that if you buy DVDs, you should consider yourself a "Time Economist." Depending on your hourly wage, the money you save by watching television shows on DVD (and avoiding time-wasting commercials) is equal to - or far surpasses - the cost of the DVD...

Hollywood makes friends with the devil: beginning tomorrow, Bit Torrent will offer "3,000 new and classic movies and thousands more television shows" as legal downloads (via The New York Times)...

Over at PaperMag Blogs, Ann Magnuson has a nice piece about working on "Anything But Love," shares her memories of John Ritter (whose production company produced the show) and interviews comedian - and star of the '90s sitcom - Richard Lewis, on the occasion of the release of the First Season of the show on DVD...

Reuters has a story about how rampant movie piracy in the Balkans means that many there have already seen most of tonight's Oscar contenders at home on DVDs costing only $1.30 each...

A police officer assigned to a high school in Portland, Oregon filmed female students and made a homegrown version of a "Girls Gone Wild" video, burned it to DVD and later shared it accidentally with his sergeant. The officer has since resigned, and says he's put the matter behind him: "I have no interest in being involved in the corrupt world of police work." (via The Seattle Times)...

Oh, Canada!

Michael Geist writes a weekly column on technology law, seen in the Toronto Star and other media outlets. This week's column attempts to refute recent reports that say Canada leads the way in DVD piracy and is a major source for current pirated films (made by illegally recording a film in a theater using a camcorder).

He suggests that the reports are exaggerated and says that Hollywood manipulates the numbers - or at the very least can't agree on the numbers - and that the last major public study (conducted by AT&T Labs in 2003) shows that industry insiders are actually the main source for pirated DVDs. He says that Canada may be responsible for as little as 3% of the illegal worldwide camcording of major American movies, not the 40% or 50% other reports suggest.

I honestly can't say whose math is fuzzier, but I do believe that advance screener copies of films provided to critics and to the voting members of the guilds during awards season are a big problem. But I also believe there have been major advances in camcorder technology since 2003 that make it much easier now to conceal a handheld device in a movie theater for surreptitious recording. So, those numbers may be woefully underreported.

What concerns me is Geist's analysis of "the economic harm associated with camcorded movies," which he says has also been "grossly exaggerated."

The industry has suggested that of recently released movies on DVD, ninety percent can be sourced to camcording. This data is misleading not only because a small fraction of recently released movies are actually available on DVD, but also because the window of availability of the camcorded versions is very short. Counterfeiters invariably seek to improve the quality of their DVDs by dropping the camcorder versions as soon as the studios begin production of authentic DVDs (which provide the source for perfect copies).

Well, all I can say is that Canadian pirates must be far more concerned with the quality of their product and repeat business from satisfied customers than their American counterparts.

I routinely see poor quality camcorded versions of hit films available for sale on the streets of New York long after a film has left theaters and even after the licensed version appears in stores. Suggesting that counterfeiters "invariably seek to improve" quality by switching out poor, shaky, handheld content for a pristine digital master once it becomes available gives the pirates far more legitimacy than they deserve.

Geist continues:

In fact, as the movie industry has grown - global revenues have nearly tripled over the past 25 years - the importance of theatre revenues has shrunk. In 1980, theatre box office revenues represented 55 percent of movie revenue.  Today, DVDs and television licensing capture the lion share of revenue, with the box office only responsible for approximately 15 percent of movie revenue. 

In other words, the economic impact of camcorded DVDs - which involve only one in ten releases and impact a small part of the revenue cycle - is little more than a rounding error in a US$45 billion industry.

I can't quibble with these facts and figures. (Well, I could, but it would only get me into more trouble.) I do, however, question the interpretation.

Theatre revenues are down and DVD revenues are up, without a doubt.

But if the economic harm only minimally applies to box office receipts, then surely the economic impact is even greater when one looks at lost DVD revenue. It seems to me that these figures support Hollywood's contention that pirated DVDs - yes, even those from Canada filmed using a camcorder, regardless of how prevalent they may or may not be - hurt the sale of authentic DVDs.

After all, the choice a consumer has is not just whether to see a film in a theater or buy a pirated DVD - but once the film arrives on home video - whether to buy a pirated DVD or buy a licensed DVD.

The industry - and the rights holders - lose money every step of the way.   

Shaken - Not Stirred - And Undeterred

Earlier this week, "Casino Royale" became the first James Bond film approved by Chinese censors for public exhibition, although all the Bond films have been widely available in China in pirated copies. In fact, Daniel Craig, the film's star was offered a pirated disc just a couple of days ago while in Beijing for the gala "Casino Royale" premiere.

According to the Daily Mirror, the actor - who was wearing a hat and glasses and went unrecognized - said, "It saddens me. Going to the cinema is a great experience. You're missing out by watching a bad copy of a DVD. As far as I'm concerned cinema is a collective experience and you get 50 per cent more by going to the cinema."

Well, let's hope the DVDs just announced by Sony Home Entertainment for the US and Canada will be good copies, provided for those who choose to bypass the cinema experience and watch the film in the comfort of their homes. (We wouldn't want you to miss out, even if you could "get 50 per cent more" by seeing the film in a theater.)

Daniel Craig, of course, plays Bond, everyone's favorite secret agent and "Casino Royale" will arrive on home video as a 2-Disc standard definition DVD (in both widescreen and full screen versions), on Blu-ray Disc and on UMD for PSP on March 13th.

The $500 million worldwide box office hit is the most successful Bond movie to date; Craig delivers an explosive performance revealing a moodier, grittier Bond and breathes new life into Ian Flemming’s notorious playboy, “007.”

"Casino Royale" traces the early career of James Bond as he is elevated to “00” status. “M” (Judi Dench), head of the British Secret Service, sends Bond on his first “007” mission leading him to Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), banker to the world’s terrorists.

In order to stop him and bring down the terrorist network, Bond must beat Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker game at "Casino Royale." Bond is initially annoyed when a beautiful treasury official, Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), is assigned to deliver his stakes for the game and watch over the government’s money. But as Bond and Vesper survive a series of nearly lethal attacks by Le Chiffre and his henchmen, a mutual affection develops, leading Bond to learn his most important lesson: trust no one.

Bonus features on the DVD will include a behind-the-scenes look at the action and stunts performed in the film as well as a featurette on the steamy history of the infamous Bond girls.

The Suggested Retail price on the 2-Disc standard definition DVD will be $28.96, the SRP on the UMD will be $28.95 and the Blu-ray Disc will go for $38.96. Actual "street prices" should be lower, of course... about $16.00, $20.00 and $27.00, respectively.

Pre-order "Casino Royale" now and save 45%.

Pre-order "Casino Royale" on Blu-ray Disc and save 45%.

Judging A DVD By Its Cover

The AP reports that a Pennsylvania DVD pirate was sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison last week. Boubacar Diallo was also sentenced Thursday "to three years' probation and ordered to pay $120,000 in restitution."

When federal agents raided Diallo's store in downtown Pittsburgh in March, they found more than 5,000 counterfeit DVDs, 2,500 counterfeit music CDs and 460 fake Louis Vuitton handbags, prosecutors said.

But the charge prosecutors levied against Diallolso was "trafficking in counterfeit labels affixed to DVDs of several films, including 'The Chronicles of Narnia,' 'Syriana,' 'Munich,' 'Flightplan' and 'The Pink Panther.'"

Although the DVDs were pirated, prosecutors said the counterfeit labels charge was the most expedient because it carries the same penalty.

[via CentreDaily.com]

Netflix Prematurely Lifts The Veil (On Small Scale)

I was surprised by the story about Netflix in this morning's LA Times.

But not nearly as surprised as Marco and Shaheena Simons were when they sat down to watch a DVD of "The Painted Veil" rented from the online service. Before the film began, they saw the following message on the screen: "Do not loan, rent, sell, give away or otherwise transfer to any third party for any reason."

As the Times reports:

It turns out the video they were watching was an awards season "screener" — one of Hollywood's most coveted perks — that they received from an unlikely source: online video renter Netflix Inc.

"The Painted Veil," starring Edward Norton and Naomi Watts, is still in theaters and isn't even out on DVD.

The screener was intended to be sent only to members of Film Independent, a nonprofit organization that sponsors the annual Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. Three years ago, hoping to increase access to little seen independent films, the group signed a deal with Netflix to send out screeners to its members.

Screeners remain controversial in Hollywood. They are great at raising the profile of smaller films and help to create awareness for films that lack stars.  This, in turn, often pays huge dividends when awards are handed out. But the seedy underside of all this is that many screeners also find their way into the hands of pirates who make the files available for downloading on the internet or sell the DVDs on online auction sites.

The Times says that Warner Brothers, the studio behind "The Painted Veil," "was not pleased" and is mounting a complete investigation. They also report that "according to Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer, 'a handful' of unauthorized viewers received the movie because of a computer glitch."

Somewhere, we imagine that John Antioco is smiling.

As for the Simons? The newspaper quotes Marco Simons as saying, "It would be great if we could get all the current releases this way, but unfortunately I think this is a one-shot deal."

Most Will Watch Movies On A PC, As Long As They're Free

As Netflix begins streaming movies and CinemaNow, iTunes, Amazon Unbox, MovieLink and others are fighting for your movie rental and download dollars, a new research study from Solutions Research Group shows that American consumers are increasingly viewing movies they download on their PCs.

That's the good news for the movie studios and the download services. The bad news - direct from the Department of Duh - is that much of the content they're viewing is unlicensed and downloaded for free. Indeed, most of the people surveyed had absolutely no qualms about downloading "copyrighted movies off the Internet."

Among key highlights of the research, released this morning:

• 32 million Americans aged 12+ (18% of the US online population) say they downloaded a full-length movie at some point in the past - 20 million of these are regulars, having downloaded in the last month.

• A majority of movie downloaders (80%) only use peer-to-peer file-sharing sites and the population of regular file-sharing users doubled between 2005 and 2006.

• A typical movie downloader from file-sharing sites is 29 years of age and has 16 titles stored on their PC - 63% are male and 37% are female.

• The PC is moving from a workhorse to a life-hub and video entertainment center, with 56% reporting having watched a DVD on a PC at some point and 29% saying they viewed a DVD on a PC last month. 25% say they watched a streaming TV show on their PCs.

• Unauthorized downloads of copyrighted movies are not perceived as a serious offense: only 40% believe downloading "copyrighted movies off the Internet" is a "very serious offense," compared to the 78% who believe "taking a DVD from a store without paying" is a very serious offense. As another point of comparison, Americans are much more likely to believe that "parking in a fire lane" is a very serious offense (59%).

(A chart illustrating this last point follows after the jump.)

"There is a Robin Hood effect - most people perceive celebrities and studios to be rich already and as a result don't think of movie downloading as a big deal," says Kaan Yigit, Study Director. "The current crop of 'download to own' movie services and the new ones coming into the market will need to offer greater flexibility of use, selection and low prices to convert the current users to their services - otherwise file-sharing will continue to thrive," added Yigit.

This information - and the chart after the jump - comes from Digital Life America, a syndicated consumer trend study conducted by Solutions Research Group between June and late September 2006. The research covered nationally representative samples of over 2,600 Americans by telephone (1,016) and online (1,600).

To maintain an unbiased perspective, Solutions Research Group funds its own syndicated research. The results cited are accurate to plus or minus 2.4 percent, 19 times out of 20.

DEG Wrong

The Digital Entertainment Group - a nonprofit industry education and advocacy organization - announced a new anti-piracy campaign at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week with its studio members pledging to include a "respect copyrights" insert in DVD packaging.

The DEG inserts - set to hit during the first and second quarters of this year - will urge consumers to buy authentic DVDs rather than pirated copies.

Participating studio members include Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, New Line Home Entertainment, Paramount Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Home Video.

A second stage of the campaign will seek to get the message inserted into the packaging of all new hardware devices: DVD players, computers and the like. And that makes a great deal more sense to us than stage one, the prime goal of which seems to be to insult your best customers, the people who have just bought a fully licensed legal copy of a movie.

Or did the DEG not think of that?

Pirates on Parade

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]

Variety: South Korean DVD Anxiety

From Variety this morning we learned that in South Korea, audiences are flocking to movie theaters, but are not buying many DVDs. In fact, business is so bad - almost no growth in four years - that both Universal and Paramount have pulled out of the home video market.

The most frequently cited reason for DVD's stunted growth in Korea is piracy. With some of the fastest broadband connections in the world, capable of downloading a DVD-quality feature film in 30 minutes, a widespread downloading culture has emerged among young Koreans.

At the same time, the government has turned a blind eye to scores of vendors selling pirated DVDs in subway stations and on street corners throughout Seoul.

Other contributing factors are the prevalence of new media devices and the cultural climate:

Young Koreans tend to socialize outside of the home and have less time and spending money than counterparts in Western countries.

The studios hope that the introduction of the Blur-ray and HD DVD high definition formats will spark interest and revitalize the market. (Then again, only 20% of Korean households currently own DVD players.)

Gang Of Six Sent To Jail For Bogus Flix

The Star reports this morning that six women who were arrested in Malaysia for DVD piracy on June 28th are "lucky to be jailed."

The Malaysian Copyright Act stipulates a maximum fine of RM 20,000 (about USD $5400) for each illegal DVD or up to five years' jail upon conviction. The women were charged with possession of more than 7,000 pirated DVDs.

Each woman received a three month jail sentence. 

Counsel Ranjit Singh Sandhu who represented the women said: “If they were fined, as stated under the Copyright Act for possessing the 7,738 pirated DVDs, it would have amounted to between RM 15.5 mil and RM 155 mil (more than USD $42 million).” 

Check out The Star for an exclusive photo of the pirates' perp walk.

The DVD Formerly Known As Bootleg

Chalk up another victory for the rights of performing artists: a German court has banned the further sale and distribution of a bootleg DVD of a 1983 Prince concert.

"Prince And The Revolution: The Homecoming" was manufactured and had been distributed by a company called Falcon in Wittenburg. The firm has been told to cease distributing the title and to destroy all existing copies.

It's the first time Germany has ruled against the distribution of a bootleg DVD (although bootleg CDs have been previously banned) .

According to Reuters/Billboard:

The court stated in its decision that Falcon's distribution violates German copyright law, international treaties and Prince's moral rights as the DVD is based on an amateur recording of the original 1983 gig.

"The sound and the pictures are of such a poor quality, it is extremely damaging to the artist's image," said the judge. According to the court, a DVD of such inferior quality would not sell even if it had been sanctioned by Prince.