DVD pirates take over
Its an intense atmosphere and the unspoken rules are clear. Don't block the view of anyone, keep your chatter to a minimum and once you've moved you've forfeited your space.
Sounds like a description from a movie theatre or maybe a night out at Queen's Hall but it's really one of a familiar sight in downtown Port-of-Spain.
From the corner of Charlotte Street and Independence Square to outside City Gate on South Quay "street cinemas" are popping up all over the capital city.
With cheap pirated copies, ranging from $10 - $25, of almost every Hollywood and Bollywood movie released or otherwise they have grown in popularity and have single handedly contributed to what can only be described as the DVD movie craze sweeping the island.
Not to mention the players themselves have fallen to universal affordable prices starting as low as $449.00.
But from where exactly do pirated copies of unreleased movies originate?
The web site piracyisacrime.com stated pirated copies are usually camcorded at early cinema screenings, downloaded on to discs from the Internet, or copied from a pre-release version of the film missing many of its final special effects or soundtrack.
"It is disheartening that people would choose to go the illegal route and support piracy," the manager of Sheltech Electronics, a legit DVD movie supplier, said under conditions of anonymity on Monday.
He said the Colsort mall based store had lost hundreds of dollars in revenue in recent months as a result of the increased level of piracy.
"We've lost a lot on the sales but we do have customers who actually do prefer original movies and as I always tell them it's the best way to go because inferior copies can damage the lens of your player over time," he said.
With original movies costing from $120 to $250, based on the date of release, who can really blame nationals from seeking a cheaper alternative.
But should you really be worried about pirated copies damaging the lens of your DVD player?
CCN IT specialist Gregory Tang Ming disagreed with the store owner.
Tang Ming said the storage of DVDs not the legitimacy of the copy can affect the lens of the player.
"Lets face it, DVDs were designed to be played in DVD players so whether it's an original copy or a burned copy it will not affect the lens. Now if the DVD becomes warped because of poor storage only then can I see it affecting the eye of the lens," he said.
He said a warped DVD, which can occur to all DVDs regardless of authenticity, becomes bent out of shape because of heat and can scratch the eye of the lens during playback.
So, we've learnt that not only are pirated DVD's readily available and significantly cheaper than original copies but the rumour about them damaging your system is hog wash.
But what about the legitimacy of their sale?
According to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), piracy cost Hollywood a reported $3.5 billion in 2004.
Not to mention a huge headache from the mammoth task faced and massive drain on resources expended in an unsuccessful attempt to quell their trade.
COTT president attorney Allison Demas knows better than the most about the headaches one can suffer in attempting to fight piracy.
In recent times COTT has locked horns, in what appears to be a losing effort, with the perpetrators in what it called a relentless war against music and video pirates in T&T.
Demas, however, says she's optimistic about the muscle impending constitutional reform can bring to her organisation on the local front.
"Section 5 of the copyright act refers to the unlawful duplication of audio visual recordings so yes what they (the DVD vendors) are doing is illegal, but the problem with the legislation as it stands is in order to prosecute the holders of the intellectual property rights of these movies, namely Hollywood and Bollywood, must want to prosecute and the fact is they simply don't because they believe Trinidad is just a small market," she said.
However, she said legislative reform giving local copyright arms the right to prosecute is currently before a cabinet appointed committee.
Part V clause 21 subsection 1 of the copyright act of 1997 states a performer shall have the exclusive right to do, authorise or prohibit the broadcasting or other communication to the public of his performance.
"We can prosecute locally produced material, however, so vendors selling all those DVDs with Learie Joseph and other locally produced shows can be arrested," she said.
Strong words from the COTT president but until legislation is passed or Hollywood decides to prosecute, DVD vendors can go on having a field day selling their pirated copies.
Well, since the foreign films companies have shown no real interest in prosecuting then what's the big deal?
"The big deal is our local DVDs are being pirated and if we want to encourage the development of our local film industry we have to be concerned about that and put legislation to stop all piracy not only local so our film industry can grow and gain international respect," Demas said.
One such local producer to be directly affected by DVD piracy is Frank Martineau of Spectacular promotions.
Martineau said he was appalled by the open practice of selling illegal copies of his companies productions namely the Learie Joseph concert series.
"Its defiantly outrageous how they do this thing in the view of the authorities as if they are untouchable," he said. "It's hurting the local entertainment industry and I find it strange a number of local artistes will allow this to be happening openly."
Meanwhile one store owner in Port of Spain refused to comment on the issue although the shelves of the store was lined exclusively with pirated copies of music and movie DVDs.
"Everything in here legal, no further comment," the store owner said with a laugh.
Another pirate, or DVD vendor as he preferred to be called, said he depended too heavily on the money earned from the trade to just give it up.
"I know it's wrong but is it right to just take away a man bread," the vendor, who preferred to withhold his identity said.
"They should have some system where they would give people a chance to register and make the business legal because not everybody could go out and get a job."
Source: Trinidad Express
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