War on DVD pirates

Police have launched a Christmas blitz on street traders selling pirate DVDs.

Brand new blockbusters such as Bridget Jones 2, The Incredibles and Blade: Trinity — as well as films not even released yet — are on sale for as little as £3.

The influx of fake DVDs has reached “epidemic” proportions, according to
Jim Angell, director of operations for the Federation Against Copyright Theft.

He said: “The problem has escalated throughout the year and has suddenly hit a peak. Fake DVDs are coming in from Malaysia, China and Pakistan for the Christmas rush. We are working with law enforcers to do all we can to stamp the trade out.”

Films are often copied on a hand-held camera from a cinema seat. Profits often fund criminal gangs.

Yet consumers are not put off buying copies of hits including The Polar Express, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale. Even National Treasure, which is not out until Christmas, is available for less than the price of a cinema ticket.

An investigation by the Evening Standard found Brick Lane market in east London selling fake copies of every film showing in cinemas at £10 for three. Traders said it was their “best year yet”.

National Treasure was the top seller, followed closely by Christmas With The Kranks. “We’re finding it hard to produce enough of them, actually,” said one trader.

Although uniformed police regularly walked past, it took the traders less than two seconds to pack the DVDs into a bag and run down a sidestreet.

Three minutes later and they were back, with customers flocking around. Another trader said: “I can sell about 70 to 100 a day. The only problem is I have to keep running from police, which means you lose a few customers. Apart from that, it’s good business now.”

However, the quality of the films proved to be less than perfect. Bridget Jones 2 showed only a faded, stretched picture while horror film Saw was almost too dark to watch. Shrek 2 had almost no soundtrack.

Poor quality does not seem to matter to customers. This year more than 60 million fake DVDs were sold. Traders can be fined up to £4,000 or even jailed.

Angry film-makers are calling for tougher measures against counterfeiting. They claim the DVD black market is worth up to £500 million a year, and that figure could rise to £1 billion by 2007.

Next month will see the first National Enforcement Report on copyright and intellectual property crime, while the Patent Office and National Criminal Intelligence Service is developing a new strategy.