Buying Pirarted Dvds/cds Is Stealing

[Donz]

I love the pirated ones where you can see peoples heads when they get up in the cinameas.

[sriracha john]

as if right on cue, this report dated earlier today.... but just goes to show piracy isn't such a big problem in Thailand. It's the Mexicans doin' most of it... :

Movie piracy costs Hollywood 75 pct more than feared

Thu May 4, 8:37 AM ET

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Movie piracy costs Hollywood's big studios about 6.1 billion dollars last year, far more than the 3.5 billion dollars the industry had previously conceded, a stunning report revealed.

A study ordered by the US film industry's lobbying group, the influential Motion Picture Association of America, revealed that pirates were costing Tinseltown's major studios about 75 percent more than they had thought.

Around 2.4 billion of the 6.1 billion dollar losses resulted from bootlegging, 1.4 billion was due to illegal copying and 2.3 billion dollars was lost to Internet piracy, said the study, parts of which were released by the MPAA.

The losses included decreased cinema ticket sales and falling DVD sales that have been one of the struggling industry's major money-spinners in recent years.

Previous piracy studies conducted by the US movie industry had focused solely on what the MPAA terms "hard-goods" piracy and not on Internet piracy.

"This study will help us better analyze and focus our efforts to fight movie theft," said MPAA chief executive Dan Glickman.

"We are calling on governments internationally to continue to work with us in limiting the impact of piracy on local economies and the film industry. Movies are a valuable product and intellectual property must be respected."

The study, conducted by LEK Consulting LLC, was completed last year in the hope of giving the seven major Hollywood studios that make up the MPAA a clearer idea of where their losses were occurring, but was kept under wraps by the MPAA, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The survey was conducted over 18 months in 28 countries at the cost of three million dollars and revealed the previously unknown scale of the cost of piracy in various markets around the world.

Piracy is costing the industry about 1.3 billion dollars a year in the United States alone, while more than two billion dollars was lost in Europe.

Other revelations of the report included the scale of illegal copying of movies in Mexico dwarfing the problems in China and Russia which have long been targets of anti-piracy swoops.

Mexico is now the world's largest market for piracy , accounting for around 483 million dollars in lost revenue to MPAA member studios in 2005, the study showed.

Estimated losses in China were 280 million dollars and Russia was the source of 275 million dollars in losses, it said.

The countries where movie piracy is occurring most prominently are China, Russia, Britain, France, Spain, Brazil, Italy, Poland and Mexico.

The movie industry faces a potential loss of 93 percent of its market in China, 62 percent in Thailand (see?... it's just barely over half... ), 51 percent in Taiwan and 29 percent in India due to piracy.

Intellectual property theft in Russia, Hungary and Poland could cost studios 81, 73 and 66 percent of the market in each country respectively, the report showed.

Outside of the United States, illegal downloading and bootlegging are prevalent, while domestically the main scourge is illegal copying and distribution, the MPAA said.

The average film copyright thief is male, between the ages of 16 and 24 and lives in an urban area, while college students in the United States, South Korea and Hungary contribute the most to each country's individual loss, the MPAA said. "It's the kids doin' most of it, I tell ya.."

"The findings in this study reinforce the need for a multi-pronged approach to fighting piracy," said Glickman.

"As an industry, we have to continue to educate people about copyright laws and the consequences of breaking those laws. At the same time, we have to provide legitimate, hassle-free ways for consumers to obtain movies at a reasonable cost," he added.

The results of the study come as bad news for the MPAA's high-profile anti-piracy crusade that its new chief Glickman has thrown his weight behind since taking over the job in September 2004.

The MPAA embraces Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Universal Studios Inc, Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox.

[britmaveric]

Forgot about Maylasia! (good stuff from there)

[skippybangkok]

Buy Pirated........ reasons, the consumer is also being shafted IMHO.

Look at when tapes got over taken by CD's. The same legal copy of a tape in BKK was about 100 baht, and the CD version was 500 Baht. The original sound track is still the same ( its not as if Micheal Jackson went back to the Studio to re-record Thriller).

So, assuming the artist still got the same deal for content, you are paying an extra 400 baht for the technology.

A CD cost what, 10 baht maybe at high volumes, and the depreciation of the equipment would not be that massive ( maybe 5 or 10 baht per CD ).......

[Tippaporn]

Ok, there have been some interesting comments here. I would like to share my own view.

I am a person who has delivered to the market for most of my life Copyright Software. The Lisence fees pay for the developers, the QA, Testing, Making what you have a product and the Marketing. Think of the fact in a software house, you even have to pay for the Tea Lady, and everyone else. So the Team of 40 programmers will have maybe another 50 or so staff working around them. To put Software on the shelf costs milions of dollars. The software industry is under so much pressure from low cost countries adding to this the shrinking lisence fees, really makes a problem.

Add to this that most of the games you like are done with venture capital or Risk Capital, so just think of that when you buy a pirate game.

Maybe when you buy Pirate software you may want to think whose pocket you want to put the money in, is it the people who developed the softwate you like made it rugged and sexy or some guy who has just purchased a PC with a set of 5 CD Burners, who will sell you anything, and if he can't find it, then his cousin can.

Movies and Music is a similar issue. It costs a great deal of $$$ to make a half decent movie, Music Video, sound track etc. The profits from a good number of movies go straight into the next. Same with Music and TV. Don't fool yourself, you are hurting yourself by buying Pirate gear.

Piracy is theft.

I know a number of teams I have managed over the years, if we had better "Shrink Wrap" sales our R&D efforts would have been better and the next poduct would also have been better, therefore the consumer benefits.

The last big sting in this is, when a product is priced for the shelf, there is an element added for IP Theft. So the people who are buying real copies of software are paying fot the theft.

It all sounds so innocent, Matt. Perhaps it is and perhaps not. I think there are cases where fair prices are being charged and also cases were gouging is practised. When it comes to pirating everyone is going to be thrown into the same bag.

Overall I think the issues that the OP raises are quite a bit more complex. Every case is not going to automatically fall neatly into one category or the other; and at times they'll fall into both. I don't believe pirating can be so narrowly considered as strictly one thing or the other all of the time, either. No doubt, though, there will be those people who firmly believe certain issues are, in all instances, absolutely black and white.

Anyone would have a hard time convincing me that the movie/music/major software industries are poor little innocent lambs, though.

[Ajarn_Jonesy]

You dont care if you are stealing from T.Cruise the sameway a Thai doesnt care if they are stealing from a rich farang. Right?

HYPOCRITES

Not stealing!! Just off Sight backups Mate...

Any old computer guy will tell you you need it for disaster recovery.... Just in case something happens to the original....

I mean you are really doing Tom Cruise a favor

So you have problem with it DONT DO IT>.. But last time I checked we are able to make our own decisions

[Ajarn_Jonesy]

More faulty logic and self delusion.

Again, they did not force you to buy their DVDs. If you feel they are over priced and CHOOSE to buy them, then that was your choice.

You DO NOT have the right to STEAL because you feel something is over priced.

You make me sick.

Just one question for you, do you run orriginal licenced software on your PC, or get down from your high horse. TROL

KKF123

You must have a hole in your head..... But here is one for you I DONT GIVE A sh!$$ what you think.. xxxxxxxxxxxx Flame deleted

edit:

Jonesy, do you want to go onto Mod Preview? Udon

[Donz]

guess im just a theif then

[Mighty Mouse]

guess im just a theif then

...and what about those copy tee shirts you sell at the markets

[siam-i-am]

Its amazing how many of the people on here hate the idea of being short changed in a bar, yet have no problem purchasing copyrighted material on the street.

The reason why is it so cheap, is because its stealing.

So why do you do it? Or rather, why do you get made when someone steals your wallet or overcharges you?

Hypocrites!

Legally speaking you are correct, but morally I think your wrong, Pirates rarely make copies of things that don't sell in there millions so are not hitting the poor artist, the likes of sting Beatles etc who can offord to lose a couple of bhat. On the plus side you have people in work who would not be. Would be muggers, burglers, etc what do you want Elton John and cheif exc, getting more or more crime on streets? Climb down of your high horse and think of the better good, not easy but possible.

[tartempion]

Its amazing how many of the people on here hate the idea of being short changed in a bar, yet have no problem purchasing copyrighted material on the street.

The reason why is it so cheap, is because its stealing.

So why do you do it? Or rather, why do you get made when someone steals your wallet or overcharges you?

Hypocrites!

The music industry is ran by a bunch of senile idiots who have no clues about pricing. They are the thieves overcharging the public, so are the governements stealing from us on petrol price (how much tax do you pay on your petrol?), seen the huge increase on benefits for the oil companies and tax income from countries?

So is Microsoft and Bill Gates overcharing his bloated software and forcing the computer industry to only sell MS products with their hardware etc etc.

At least the thai people selling their copies make some money.

An eye for an eye I would say.

[Neeranam]

The music industry is ran by a bunch of senile idiots who have no clues about pricing. They are the thieves overcharging the public, so are the governements stealing from us on petrol price (how much tax do you pay on your petrol?), seen the huge increase on benefits for the oil companies and tax income from countries?

So is Microsoft and Bill Gates overcharing his bloated software and forcing the computer industry to only sell MS products with their hardware etc etc.

At least the thai people selling their copies make some money.

An eye for an eye I would say.

Well said

[Neeranam]

The music industry is ran by a bunch of senile idiots who have no clues about pricing. They are the thieves overcharging the public, so are the governements stealing from us on petrol price (how much tax do you pay on your petrol?), seen the huge increase on benefits for the oil companies and tax income from countries?

So is Microsoft and Bill Gates overcharing his bloated software and forcing the computer industry to only sell MS products with their hardware etc etc.

At least the thai people selling their copies make some money.

An eye for an eye I would say.

Well said

[rainman]

the way i see it ...some of the movies costing 100 million dollars get their production costs back with the first few days of cinema releases anyways. and lets face it, we all go to the cinema every now and then. at least i do ..because i enjoy it. now if after the production costs, through the cinemas they only make a profit of 10-20 million dollars ...can't really go crying there. i mean, the studio just made a huge amount of money. lets go out and make some cheap dvds and charge customers 200-300% the production costs ...meaning they get 200-300 dollars back for every dollar they spend. seems like a good return.

if the movie business doesn't go that well anymore, maybe we need to cut tom hanks (which is a brilliant actor, IMO, by the way), tom cruise, etc. etc salaries from 10 million dollars per movie to 2 million dollars per movie. and maybe not spend 100 million dollars on a movie but maybe only 20-50 million dollars per movie.

I'm sorry rainman but thats all blah blah blah. Its like saying that when Porshe developed the 911 they made their money back so its ok if you go out and nick one, and if Porshe start losing money, cut the wages of the engineers and staff who helped build and sell the car. Who are you to decide whats a suitable profit margin for a business?

End of the day, you download or buy goods like this then you are stealing money from people who have brought you a good service. You steal money from your favourite music band when you d/load their tunes, don't forget that.

Morally its wrong, so better just lose some morals and stop justifying it if you are going to do it, I certainly do.

when did humanity lose the right to its own opinion? did i miss something while i was sleeping last night?

[OldAsiaHand]

...it IS thieving ..... so what?

OldHandLuke just had to jump in on the other side because ... well .... he's unhappy here!

What an idiotic thing to say...

I personally regret that I have to live in Bangkok, so my thoughts on your thievery should be entirely dismissed as not mattering.

It's people like you who make this place what it really is.

[udon]

I think this topic has been flogged to death.

Closing in 3 hours.

[Khutan]

As for software, unless its less than 20quid chances are against it.

More often than not, you can buy genuine Software at the larger retail shops at Latest Version -1 when thy have had the new version on the shelf for a few months and they are over-stocked.

The upgrade cd can be quite cheap.

[jdinasia]

...it IS thieving ..... so what?

OldHandLuke just had to jump in on the other side because ... well .... he's unhappy here!

What an idiotic thing to say...

I personally regret that I have to live in Bangkok, so my thoughts on your thievery should be entirely dismissed as not mattering. Yes, exactly! .... every post you make ... makes it abundantly clear that you don't like it here ... don't fit in here .... and cannot manage to leave for whatever reasons ....

It's people like you who make this place what it really is. Thanks! Living in Thailand is AWESOME! A fun place with no end of places to go ... things to do ... people to meet! An incredibly vibrant landscape upon which to paint your life! I wouldn't want to live anywhere else! All the challenges included![/quote]

[OldAsiaHand]

Yeah, baby, AWESOME!

[.....what a nitwit.]

[Jai Yen Yen]

I think this topic has been flogged to death.

Closing in 3 hours.

Time's up Udon,

(I buy pirated stuff because it's cheap.)

[jdinasia]

Yeah, baby, AWESOME!

[.....what a nitwit.]

Still no answer? Why do you stay here OldHandLuke? if you hate it so much? you always duck that question ..... really ... you must be able to afford to leave by now huh?