Post by: Bloodworth on April 05, 2005, 04:47:01 PM
MAJOR RAID REMOVES OVER £1/2 MILLION ILLEGAL CONTENT FROM UNREGULATED MARKETPLACE
Operation at Midlands car boot sale removes 20,000 counterfeit games, films and music Tuesday 5 April 2005/... In the early hours of Sunday morning, a team of anti-piracy officials swooped on illegal traders at a Staffordshire car boot sale, leading to the removal of 20,000 fake DVDs with an estimated street value of over half a million pounds.
The manoeuvre, led by Staffordshire Police and supported by ELSPA (Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association), Staffordshire Trading Standards, FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft) and Customs and Excise, uncovered a total of 20 stalls at Himley, Wombourne selling copied games, films, music, business software, 30,000 contraband cigarettes and a quantity of Viagra tablets. Pirated copies of Doom 3, a title rated as suitable for adults only, was the most prevalent games title, while officers discovered a small amount of previously unseen fake Gamecube mini discs.
Roger Bennett, director general of ELSPA commented: "This case illustrates the way in which piracy poses a threat to members of the public, allowing titles containing unregulated adult-rated content to be sold illegally without the enforcement of our rigorous ratings system, which is strictly adhered to by legitimate retail outlets. ELSPA would like to thank all those involved for their efforts to eradicate computer and video games piracy."
Two persons from the West Midlands area have been reported for offences against the Trade Marks Act 1994. The case is currently proceeding with the offenders now facing possible prosecution.
ELSPA (The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association) represents the interests of the UK games publishers. It has a dedicated anti piracy unit with investigators based across the UK and often works closely with the Police and Trading Standards to combat computer games piracy. Anyone with any information on computer games piracy should contact the police, their local Trading Standards Office or call the ELSPA anti piracy unit hotline on 08705 133405.
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on April 05, 2005, 04:51:59 PM
Post by: Arbok on April 05, 2005, 04:54:00 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: BlackNMild2k1
when they say 'Fake' GC disc do they mean disc that look like authentic games but have no useable data, or mini dvd-r with gamecube games burned onto them?
Exactly what I was wondering. I assume it's the former, otherwise they probably would have said "Pirated Gamecube Discs Found in UK", although it's only my guess.
Post by: BlackNMild2k1 on April 05, 2005, 05:29:48 PM
Post by: Rize on April 05, 2005, 10:50:46 PM
Post by: zidapi on April 05, 2005, 11:22:27 PM
Post by: BranDonk Kong on April 06, 2005, 09:39:02 AM
Post by: ib2kool4u912 on April 06, 2005, 12:29:09 PM
Post by: Ian Sane on April 06, 2005, 12:38:12 PM
Wait. What? Is Nintendo planning on preventing used sales and rentals? I don't know how anyone could actually do that but if they did I wouldn't buy their console.
Post by: vudu on April 06, 2005, 12:46:01 PM
Although, I do believe video game publishers do earn profit on used game sales in Japan. But that's not the point.
Post by: nickmitch on April 06, 2005, 03:11:52 PM
Post by: Bloodworth on April 06, 2005, 05:11:19 PM
Post by: vudu on April 07, 2005, 08:53:12 AM
QuoteI believe it has to do with some loophole in the law that somehow makes videogames classified into the same category as movies. Back in the day, the Japanese movie industry was losing a lot of revenue in theaters because theaters would sell their reels to other theaters once they were done with them. In order to encourage movie making Japanese lawmakers ruled that movie makers would earn trickle-down revenue when used movies were sold. I'm not sure if this applies to video and DVD sales, too, or just reel movies.
Originally posted by: TVman
Really how?
Somehow video games got lumped into that category too, and as a result publishers get paid when a used game is sold. I'm not sure if the console manufacturer also gets paid.
I read all this on Gamespy.com probably about a year ago, so I could be slightly off. If anyone knows more, feel free to chime in.
Post by: Ian Sane on April 07, 2005, 09:44:37 AM
That is incredibly nonsensical. Why not instead make it illegal for movie theatres to sell their reels to other theatres? What do we do in Canada and the US to prevent theatres from doing that?
Post by: ShyGuy on April 07, 2005, 10:25:53 AM
More Elegant Solution than how the Japanese did it I think.
