Infact: Half of new DVD sales to pirates
Ireland’s black market trade in DVDs has morphed into a multi-million euro organised crime operation with half of all new films sold now coming from pirates, it was claimed today.
A leading figure in the fight against counterfeiting warned a piracy culture has developed in the country but added that public attitudes were changing against the illegal industry.
Brian Finnegan, director general of the Irish National Federation Against Copyright Theft (Infact), said about 50% of all DVDs currently being bought are on the black market.
“To put that in real terms, that works out at losses of about €80m a year,” he said.
“The pirates wouldn’t get all that, but they’d certainly get about half of that – so that’s €40m going to crime.”
Mr Finnegan said it was not accepted as fact that the massive amount of money raised from the underground trade in films was funding organised crime gangs.
As well as bankrolling gangsters, the lost sales is also taking its toll on legitimate businesses, particularly during the present economic crisis, according to the Infact chief.
This, in turn, was costing jobs, he warned.
Speaking at an anti-counterfeiting conference, organised by the Garda, the PSNI and Interpol, Mr Finnegan said there was traditionally a huge problem with piracy in Ireland going back to the days of VHS video tapes.
But the black market had changed massively since then, as small-time crooks operating on their own at market stalls were squeezed out by a highly organised criminal operation.
“If I wanted to go down and set up my stall selling hooky products, I would last 15 minutes at maximum,” he said.
“It’s totally controlled, it is organised crime and it’s from west Cork to the border and beyond.”
Mr Finnegan said despite advances in digital technology most copies of films that have just been released in cinemas remain bad quality.
The anti-counterfeiting boss also insisted people were changing their formerly relaxed views of piracy, as they learn about the gangsters who are profiting from it.
“The people behind the piracy don’t care about you or me, they’re driven by greed and other forms of crime – they’re pretty nasty people,” he said.
