Over €115m lost in pirated DVDs and videos

CRIMINALS selling pirated DVDs and videos deprive businesses of over €115 million a year, making almost €50m in the process.

The major pirates have links to organised crime syndicates, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise and Small Business was told yesterday.

A delegation representing the home entertainment industry, which included the Irish National Federation Against Copyright Theft (INFACT), warned if the sale of counterfeit DVDs and videos continued unabated, "by the end of 2005, the (market) will be dominated by pirates".

At present the market for DVDs and videos, including sales and rentals, is valued at €180m a year. Pirates are wiping off around 64% of that market by counterfeiting films and selling them cheaply, costing the industry €115.2m in lost sales, rentals and royalties.

A knock-on effect is the Exchequer loses approximately €24m in VAT, while the pirates make vast sums.

INFACT secretary general Brian Finnegan told the committee that based on intelligence and seizures, pirate earnings are estimated at approximately €49.9m in 2004.

He said the volume of these earnings "provide immense financial resources to reinvest in further criminal activities".

The fastest growing form of piracy here involves criminals downloading internet films and burning them onto discs.

Those who do import discs usually do so by post, usually from Asia, where there are huge black-market operations. The delegation told the committee it believed gardaí had displayed willingness to pursue the pirates, seizing €8.3m worth of pirated films in 2003, up from €1.7m in 2001. But officers were finding it demoralising when they brought cases to court only for lenient sentences or small fines to be imposed.

"I think it's largely seen as a victimless crime. Pirates attempt to convey the image of a Robin Hood while inflicting a serious blow to the Irish industry, jobs and economy," Xtravision managing director Martin Higgins said.

The Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000 allows the courts to impose penalties on counterfeiters including fines of up to €100,000 and jail terms of up to five years but the industry said stricter implementation of that legislation was necessary.

Describing the delegation's evidence as alarming, committee chairman Senator Donie Cassidy said he would ask Justice Minister Michael McDowell to appear before the committee to discuss the issue.

If the law was not being applied "in the spirit the legislators made it", the committee would attempt to remedy the situation.