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General Music and Media News
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| BSA gives £10,000 reward to sofware piracy whistleblower - Monday, September 06, 2010The latest beneficiary of BSA's bounty program, which offers up to $1 million in reward money, is said to have received £10,000 ($15,300) for blowing the lid of his former employer's use of unlicensed software. read more ...
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| Disney and Warner Bros. attack piracy website sponsors - Monday, August 30, 2010In a new angle to attack the myriad of websites that offer or promote pirated material the movie studios are going to hit them where it hurts, in the sponsors. read more ...
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| No Ramadan break for pirates - Wednesday, August 25, 2010During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims are not only fasting and praying, but they are also working for the blessings of Allah by becoming better people. Nightclubs in the Gulf countries are closed. Television channels are requiring that starlets dress conservatively. But what about software piracy? Are people still buying pirated CDs and DVDs during the holy month? read more ...
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| Film group strikes back against pirates - Wednesday, August 11, 2010The China Film Copyright Protection Association (CFCPA) announced at a recent news conference that it will sue the movie portals 365pub.com and Cnnip.com as well as a few Internet cafes for piracy. read more ...
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| Fake software costs $10 billion a year - Sunday, July 25, 2010$10 billion. That's about how much the software industry loses each year because of counterfeiting, according to John Gantz, an analyst at IDC. read more ...
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| Software piracy and internet pirates going to jail - Monday, July 19, 2010Software piracy law efforts backed by the SIIA (Software and Information Industry Association), the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), the Business Software Association (BSA) and of course Microsoft are running fast and furious to intimidate internet pirates and quash any and all efforts of internet piracy, software piracy and copyright infringement on software, music and film. read more ... |
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| Software firms praise IP protection plan - Wednesday, July 14, 2010The White House's announcement of a new strategy to enforce intellectual property rights came none too soon for the software industry, which loses tens of billions of dollars a year to software piracy. read more ... |
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| U.S authorities seize websites over pirated movies - Monday, July 05, 2010LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. authorities seized nine websites on Wednesday, accusing them of movie piracy by offering free access to movies such as “Toy Story 3”. read more ...
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| Computer software: buy genuine, kill piracy - Wednesday, June 16, 2010It seems that many people resort to pirated software as they are available at cheaper rates, but when it comes to the performance point they fail miserably. read more ...
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| Hollywood battles piracy with free movie streams at home - Sunday, June 06, 2010Movie fans are being given the chance to watch their choice of blockbusters at home for nothing, as a host of Hollywood studios team up with UK-based technology firm Blinkbox to run a week-long free streaming service in an effort to lure internet users away from pirated material. read more ...
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| Warner Bros. accused of using pirated anti-piracy technology - Monday, May 31, 2010"We disclosed our anti-piracy technology to Warner Bros. in 2003 at their request, under strict confidentiality, expecting to be treated fairly," the company said in a statement. "Instead, they started using our technology extensively without our permission and without any accounting to us." read more ...
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| The real cost of software piracy - Sunday, May 30, 2010Software piracy is the illegal copying of software for distribution or resale, to friends, colleagues, or online. Arguably, the most dangerous form of software piracy relates to what many people consider simple personal use; buying a software program and then installing it on more than one personal machine. Many people are not even aware that what they are installing is technically pirated software! read more ...
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| Sellers of fake antivirus software indited - Sunday, May 30, 2010Three men, one Swede and two Americans, have been accused of duping scores of people and pocketing over US$100 million by selling harmful "scareware" antivirus.
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| Comic on internet piracy launched for school kids - Monday, May 24, 2010A recently formed Bollywood-Hollywood anti-piracy coalition between the Motion Picture Distributors Association (MPDA) and Bollywood studios Monday launched here a comic book for schoolchildren about the dangers of online movie piracy. read more ...
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| Google warns: 15% of all malware coming from fake anti-virus sites - Monday, May 03, 2010In San Jose, California at a Usenix Workshop on Large-Scale Exploits and Emergent Threats, Google released their year long report on fraudulent antivirus sites and malware on the internet. The statistics released by the web giant are frightening. read more ...
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| Delayed Australian release boosts Avatar towards top of most pirated blu-ray ever - Wednesday, April 28, 2010Having smashed Titanic at the box office, James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar is now well on its way to being the most pirated Blu-ray movie ever. read more ...
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| Piracy rate in Asia remains high - Tuesday, April 27, 2010Last year’s data suggested that piracy is still one of the serious issues in the region. read more ...
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| U.K. approves crackdown on internet pirates - Thursday, April 08, 2010The British Parliament on Thursday approved plans to crack down on digital media piracy by authorizing the suspension of repeat offenders’ Internet connections. read more ...
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| Massive protest against UK anti-piracy bill - Friday, March 19, 2010As Feargal Sharkey, head of UK Music, speaks of his confidence that the massively controversial Digital Economy Bill will be passed before the general election, the Open Rights Group has revealed that in the last 3 days more than 10,000 outraged citizens have written to MPs demanding a debate on the issue. read more ...
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| MPAA, Bollywood Studios join forces to fight film piracy - Friday, March 19, 2010Mumbai, India - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced this week that it has partnered with seven Bollywood film studios to address movie piracy in India, the Associated Press reported. read more ...
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| Squillions will be lost to 'piracy' by 2015 - Thursday, March 18, 2010A SYMPOSIUM of so-called 'anti-piracy' overlords has plucked a figure from its random number generator and estimated that European economies will lose £215 billion by 2015 if peer-to-peer (P2P) filesharers aren't subjected to draconian punishments. read more ...
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| Industry study: Europeans download euro 10 billion worth of pirated music, films, software - Wednesday, March 17, 2010BRUSSELS — Europeans downloaded euro10 billion worth of pirated music, film, television shows and software from the Web in 2008, an entertainment industry study said Wednesday. read more ...
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| The renewed attack on piracy - Tuesday, March 09, 2010MCV meets Nintendo’s European anti-piracy boss Neil Boyd and ELSPA’s IP crime unit manager John Hillier. read more ...
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| Poor content access blamed for piracy - Sunday, February 14, 2010Better online access to movies and music will help address the piracy problem according to internet service providers, Internode and iiNet.
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| Feds seize $7.1M in counterfeit DVDs in Los Angeles - Friday, January 15, 2010U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection officials Jan. 15 said they confiscated more than a quarter million counterfeit movie and music DVDs worth an estimated $7.1 million and earmarked for distribution in the U.S. from a South Korean cargo ship docked in the Los Angeles/Long Beach harbor. read more ...
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| Casual purchase of counterfeit DVDs shines light on piracy - Monday, January 04, 2010High-quality copies pose a real, and frightening, capacity to take a bite out of the legitimate retail market. read more ...
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You have to ask yourself if you think saving a few dollars is worth going to jail? Probably not. There are actually more disadvantages than advantages to using pirated software. Val McQueen, Eninemark.com, 20 July 2010
Illegal downloading is no different from stealing a handbag.
- James Murdoch, chairman and chief executive of News Corporation's European and Asian operations, featured in The Guardian newspaper, 10 March 2010.
High quality copies pose a real, and frightening, capacity to take a bite out of the legitimate retail market.
- Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 4 January 2010.
Probably about 35% of all the CDs sold around the world are illegal or pirated.
- Mike Smith, Managing Director, Columbia Label Group, Sony. New Statesman, Counterfeit Culture, 22 May 2006 p.11.
An estimated 200 million illegal CDs come out of Poland annually.
- INTA Anticounterfeiting Forum (2005) Parallel imports: what lurks beneath the surface?
Illegal music sales were an estimated $4.5 billion business worldwide in 2003.
- International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFIP)
This operation was not your so-called back bedroom scam, but a major pirate manufacturing facility. Its potential output was staggering.
- Michael Rawlinson, deputy director general of the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association in a report: Major counterfeiting scam cracked, BBC News, 10 Feb 2006. 
The pirate DVDs were believed to be worth more than £500,000, and included copies of current cinema releases like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Munich and Memoirs of a Geisha.
- Three charged over fake DVD haul, BBC News, 2 Feb 2006
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British Music Rights was established in 1996 to speak on behalf of the UK’s vibrant and diverse songwriting, composing and music publishing community. Our four member organisations are: the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS), the Music Publishers Association (MPA) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). We act as a single consensus voice for more than 50,000 composers, songwriters, music publishers, and their UK collecting societies, representing them where appropriate to Government, the media, industry and the public.
British Phonographic Industry highlights not only the issue of digital music piracy, but also the production of fake physical products such as CD and DVD media (known as ‘commercial piracy’). The retail value of commercial piracy in the UK, at pirate prices, was estimated to be nearly £77 million in 2004, growing 37% in value, and 31% in volume from the previous year. Interestingly, the UK has one of the lowest rates of music piracy in the world. The global pirate music market is estimated to be US$4.6 billion, with 1 in 3 music disks sold worldwide being an illegal copy, and the sale of pirated music exceeding the legitimate market in 31 countries during 2004! More information is available at the International Phonographic Industry (IPI)
British Video Association was established in 1980 to represent the interests of publishers and rights owners of pre-recorded home entertainment on video. Their members account for 90% of a growing industry with a retail value of £1.99 billion. They include video divisions of film studios and television companies, independent video labels and manufacturers and wholesalers of packaged media. The BVA is a member of the Alliance Against Counterfeiting and Piracy.
Business Software Alliance (BSA) is a nonprofit trade association created to advance the goals of the software industry and its hardware partners. It is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. Headquartered in Washington, DC, BSA is active in more than 80 countries, with dedicated staff in 11 offices around the globe: Brussels, London, Munich, Beijing, Delhi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Tokyo, Singapore, and São Paulo.To help deter online software fraud, BSA has made a 5-minute educational video to educate consumers about safe online shopping, while showing potential sellers the possible consequences of their actions.
Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) is a UK trade organisation formed specifically to act as a forum for the retail and wholesale sectors of the music, video, DVD and Multimedia products industry. It was formed in 1988 by a group of record dealers - independents, multiples and wholesalers who saw the need to initiate constructive dialogue between dealers, the record companies and their trade body, the BPI (British Phonographic Industry). ERA has established links with other industry Association and governmental departments as a respected voice within the industry.
Federation Against Copyright Theft was established in 1983 to protect the UK’s film and broadcasting industry against counterfeiting, copyright and trademark infringements. FACT works closely across the UK with Police services, Trading Standards, HM Revenue & Customs, and most recently with the Department for Work and Pensions. FACT has a close association with other enforcement bodies such as the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA). It also ensures that the government and the public understand the threat to the UK’s film and television industry and to the community at large from the growing threat of DVD and online piracy.
Federation Againt Software Theft (FAST) and Investors in Software (IiS) have joined forces under the umbrella of the shared mission statement "Championing the professional management of software and protecting members' rights". FAST itself was established by the British Computing Society’s Copyright Committee to lobby Parliament for changes to the Copyright Act 1956. FAST was the first software copyright organisation in the world. The organization joined forces with IiS in 2008 in order to provide a unified message to end users on professional software asset management and licence management with support of all tier one vendors.
International Phonographic Industry (IFPI) represents the recording industry worldwide, with a membership comprising some 1400 record companies in 75 countries and affiliated industry associations in 49 countries. IFPI's mission is to promote the value of recorded music, safeguard the rights of record producers and expand the commercial uses of recorded music in all markets where its members operate.
Their website has a section that is specifically designed to assist IFPI investigators and regional anti-piracy coordinators, national groups and law enforcement personnel in the investigation of music piracy worldwide. They also have a downloadable guide to recognising pirate music products.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was founded in 1922 as the trade association of the American film industry; the MPAA has broadened its mandate over the years to reflect the diversity of an ever-changing and expanding industry. The Association advocates strong protection of the creative works produced and distributed by the industry, fights copyright theft around the world, and provides leadership in meeting new and emerging industry challenges.
Recording Industry Association (Singapore) was formed in 1976 as Singapore Phonogram Association. Its objective is to “foster and maintain trade ethics and fair business practices within members of the industry and to serve the industry's voice both locally and internationally”.
School Software provides information on pedagogical software applications. The site also includes a blog and provides information on software piracy.
Video Standards Council (VSC) was established in 1989 in the response to UK Government concerns about the video industry, and is promoting high standards for video, computer and video games. The VSC represents the whole of the video and games industries and as such is in a position to bring the various different sectors of the industries together to discuss and resolve matters of public concern.
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| Gangs 'made 500 counterfeit DVDs, CDs per day' - Tuesday, December 22, 2009A gang disrupted by police was making up to 500 counterfeit DVDs and CDs a day, a court has been told.
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| Police raid on fake DVD factory - Sunday, December 20, 2009Three men were arrested after thousands of counterfeit DVDs were seized by the PSNI's organised crime squad on Sunday. read more ...
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| Spanish anti-piracy measure under fire - Thursday, December 03, 2009The government of Spain has proposed new measures to curb the digital piracy of music and movies, but the bill has upset people on both sides of the debate over file-sharing, with copyright owners calling it insufficient and Internet companies denouncing it as heavy-handed. read more ...
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| US companies in China ask Obama for help on piracy - Tuesday, November 17, 2009A U.S. business association in China looks forward to working with U.S. President Barack Obama on increased protection of intellectual property rights in the country, it said Monday. read more ...
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| Four charged with selling counterfeit DVDs - Friday, November 13, 2009Four naturalized U.S. citizens originally from Hong Kong were indicted Friday by a federal grand jury and are accused of making $3 million off the sales of counterfeit DVDs of Disney films and other movies. read more ...
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| Canada in tallks over copyright laws with bite - Friday, November 06, 2009Canadian officials are taking part in negotiations for a top-secret copyright treaty that could see families barred from the Internet for a year if someone in the household is suspected of illegal downloads. read more ...
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| Radiohead guitarist backs bandwidth throttling as music piracy solution - Thursday, November 05, 2009Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien had some words for the UK government's recent decision to move to "three strikes" piracy laws. read more ...
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| US man to serve prison term for selling counterfeit software - Friday, October 23, 2009A 46-year-old Falls Church, Virginia, man has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for selling counterfeit software on eBay, the U.S. Department of Justice said. read more ...
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| Deputies say they seized 10,000 counterfeit DVDs from Dallas woman - Tuesday, October 20, 2009A Dallas woman was arrested Friday, accused of operating a bootleg DVD lab in her small apartment. Dallas County sheriff's deputies said they confiscated more than 10,000 counterfeit movies and music DVDs. read more ...
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| Fake security software seen widespread - Monday, October 19, 2009Beware of Internet pop-up ads that warn you about a computer virus. read more ...
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| Getting real about fakes - Monday, August 17, 2009If companies want to cut into sales of counterfeit products, they need to understand why consumers buy them in the first place. read more ...
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| Police bust Harry Potter piracy ring - Thursday, August 06, 2009Police say they have smashed two movie piracy rings and seized 35,000 pirated DVDs in Sydney. read more ...
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| Fake security software steals $34 million monthly - Wednesday, July 29, 2009Ignorance may be bliss, but it can also be expensive. Insufficiently knowledgeable computer users are downloading and paying for fake security software in increasing numbers, creating massive revenue for cybercriminals. read more ...
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| Family made 7 million pounds in fake DVD scam - Tuesday, July 28, 2009A father and his sons who made £7m from a pirate DVD scam have been jailed by a judge at Southwark Crown Court. read more ...
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| A big week for copyrights and piracy - Thursday, July 02, 2009The sale of The Pirate Bay probably ranks as the week's biggest news for those of us who obsess about copyright issues, followed by the ruling that Usenet.com's newsgroup-access service infringed on the major record companies' copyrights and the Supreme Court's decision not to take Hollywood's appeal of the Cablevision network DVR ruling. read more ...
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| Fake online Harry Potter movies launch Malware attack - Saturday, June 27, 2009If you happen to see a too-good-to-be-true offer to watch the latest Harry Potter movie online for free, watch out. read more ...
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| US crackdown on DVD pirates - Saturday, June 20, 2009On Monday Hillsborough deputies launched Operation Picture Perfect, cracking down on movie counterfeiters who set up curbside, in parking lots and in flea markets. The operation netted six arrests and about 1,500 DVD copies of newly released movies. read more ...
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| Cinemas are powerless to stop film pirates - Wednesday, May 06, 2009Cinemas are having to let film pirates walk free because they are powerless to stop them, the boss of one of Britain's biggest cinema chains has said. read more ...
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| 90 percent of software programs, 80 percent of CDs and DVDs in music market are pirated products - Wednesday, April 22, 2009Software piracy is considered the most widespread piracy in Azerbaijan, chief of the Copyright Agency Kamran Imanov said, APA reports. He said the level of software piracy was 90 percent. read more ...
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| Has online piracy reached a tipping point? - Sunday, April 19, 2009Whether it be downloading movies illegally found with the help of the Pirate Bay, ripping a movie rental from Netlix to a computer hard drive, republishing an unauthorized copy of a news photograph to the Web, or sharing music on peer-to-peer services, the people who create this content have begun to send a message: "no more free lunches." read more ...
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| Music Piracy in Middle East Hits 99% - Thursday, March 19, 2009"Music piracy in this region as a whole is about 99 per cent. In the US, some surveys say it's 95 per cent but I believe it's much higher," Robin Kent, the former Chairman and CEO of Universal McCann, said. read more ...
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| Tacklng film piracy would generate 614 million pounds for UK economy - Wednesday, March 11, 2009Film piracy costs the UK economy £614m pounds a year in lost revenues from fake DVD sales and illegal downloads, according to a report commissioned by Respect for Film. read more ...
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| New report claims movie piracy linked to international terrorism - Wednesday, March 04, 2009Three of the documented cases provide clear evidence that terrorist groups have used the proceeds of film piracy to finance their activities. read more ...
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| Pirated audiobook seller jailed - Thursday, November 20, 2008A man who sold counterfeit audiobooks, including the best-selling Harry Potter stories, has been jailed for 21 month. It is estimated his fake audiobooks resulted in a retail loss to the publishing industry of over £1m. read more ...
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