Thailand Entertainment Industry Demands Piracy Crack Down

[Jai Dee]

Thailand Entertainment Industry Demands Piracy Crack Down

BANGKOK, June 21 (Bernama) -- Thailand entertainment figures including film makers, directors and stars gathered at the Government House Tuesday, urging the government to step up its crack down on pirated compact disc (CDs) and its related products.

The group said that piracy is currently on the rise and seriously affecting their business as their intellectual property rights are being isolated by unscrupulous manufacturers and vendors, Thailand news agency reports.

The say that the suppression measures currently taken by state agencies are insufficient, the report said.

They petitioned the government to appoint Royal Thai Police Inspector-General, Pol. Gen. Sereepisut Temeyavet to head the task since, they said, the leading police officer is keen on crime suppression.

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister Pol. Gen. Chidchai Vanasatidya and Deputy Commerce Minister Preecha Laohapongchana received the petition and said they would discuss the subject with other agencies concerned, but for the time being police are in charge.

Quoting Laohapongchana, the police would investigate possible connections between rising piracy, well-connected influential figures and a ring of drug dealers and smugglers.

Source: Malaysian Bernama - June 21, 2006

[TokyoT]

Thailand Entertainment Industry Demands Piracy Crack Down

The group said that piracy is currently on the rise and seriously affecting their business as their intellectual property rights are being isolated by unscrupulous manufacturers and vendors, Thailand news agency reports.

Source: Malaysian Bernama - June 21, 2006

intellectual property rights

In Thailand? Are these people serious?

My two cents:

Feckm'

For years and years bootleg copies of western movies, CD’s, and software have been available in Thailand with only what I consider window dressing actions being taken by Thai authorities. Now they see how it can affect the Thai pocket-book in a negative fashion and they want someone to take action.

[stumonster]

intellectual

That is a perspective.

It should be easy to recognise the 'pirates' by the eyepatch , parrot , pegleg and hook .....

Edited June 21, 2006 by stumonster

[britmaveric]

Well make the prices affordable for the avg thai and piracy will evaporate.

[ratcatcher]

intellectual

That is a perspective.

It should be easy to recognise the 'pirates' by the eyepatch , parrot , pegleg and hook .....

This guy can be found supervising sales of intoelectyouall properties around Pantip Plaza.

I have no sympathy for the likes of GMM Grammy and Thai music producers as I will happily copy their CD's for my friends. Is that piracy too Cap'n?.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander as the Thais say. Som Nam Nar.

[hopeless]

Well Im not sure about the rest of you but I have never witnessed any type of piracy in Thailand, and if I get the slightest wind of illegal goings on I'll be reporting my observations to the local authoraties, who I'm sure will take the matter seriously indeed.

Edited June 21, 2006 by hopeless

[farangsay]

Well make the prices affordable for the avg thai and piracy will evaporate.

Exactly

I remember seeing a TV program here in France years back

This "investigative reporter" took a copy of a music CD by a French

artists around thge plazas in Bangkok asking how much it would

cost to make 100 copies (cover , everything included).

He got a few offers around 5 Francs a copy.

This , he said righteously , was scandalous !

What I thought was scandalous was the CD was on sale in French supermarkets

for 110 Francs.

[Scott]

Well, it seems the shoe is on the other foot finally!

[Galong]

Well make the prices affordable for the avg thai and piracy will evaporate.

I see no reason to assume that this will happen. If the pirated copy is one baht cheaper, my bet is that Thais (and foreigners) will buy the pirated copy.

[penzman]

I buy video games, try them out. If I want the real game, let's say so I can play online, or get updates/patches, I will buy it. Demos suck as most options and features are turned off. If the videogame sucks, meets Mr. Garbage Pail.

[redwood13]

A year ago I posted on another board that a farang friend who owns a small bar in Pattaya was approached by a representative of GMM Grammy and told that if he was playing Thai music in his bar he should purchase an authorizing license from GMM Grammy. He declined as he does not play Thai music in his bar.

Not long after I was in an internet shop owned by a farang friend when 8-10 people came in the shop and started examining the computers. Most of these folks were in plain clothes but there were also uniformed Pattaya police as well. After a while they started loading the computers onto a pickup truck and took them away to the police station at Soi 9. Cost to get the computers back was 50,000 baht. The "crime" was having Thai music downloaded on some of the computer's hard drives. That is, the shop is responsible for the content on its computers no matter who has done the downloading.

And two weeks ago it cost a small bar here in Pattaya 15,000 baht to have their little 6K baht stereo returned by the police. Oh, and also, to keep the cashier from being locked up The crime, despite repeated warnings not to do so by the owner, was the playing of a Thai music CD by one of the staff. The music was heard outside the bar apparently by the police and not long after, half a dozen officers arrived to supress this criminal activity. And yes, the bar is the same one I mentioned up top

I notice the artists who are complaining about piracy because they're not getting their share of the royalties. I'm guessing the publishers, i.e. GMM Grammy, are doing ok and it appears from the above examples that the MiB are doing ok as well.

-redwood

[VanZam]

My ex gf used to work at a cyber cafe down sukhumvit... police came one day to check the computers, she had about 5-10 thai songs on the hard drive and was fined 50k on the spot.

She also had thousands of non-thai music titles.. the cops didnt give a stuff about.

I guess thais will put up with pirate copies as long as its not ripping off other thais... if only the government worked around the same ideas....

[jaiyenjohn]

I always found it ironic that Grammy, the Thai company's name, itself infringes on what is actually a registered trademark of the Recording Academy in the USA which organises and awards the music awards known as "The Grammys".

With that incredible hypocracy in play, I find it difficult to find any sympathy at all for their position on copyright violation. And I even work in the media industry.

Edited June 22, 2006 by jaiyenjohn

[ROFL]

Well Im not sure about the rest of you but I have never witnessed any type of piracy in Thailand,

Wow, have you ever walked down ANY street downtown?

Pirated shirts, shoes, dvd's, the list is too long.

Sounds like you have a lot of work to do, let us know what kind of response you get from "Peter Pan" the pirate killer.

[ROFL]

I guess thais will put up with pirate copies as long as its not ripping off other thais... if only the government worked around the same ideas....

Which is why they never visit the pharmacies.

Funny I remember a Thai official warning about signing the FTA but probably wont hear a peep out of him about this.

[brownsugar]

Their is no infringement of "Grammy" trademark in Thailand. The recording academy in the US didn't bother to protect the name in Thailand.

I always found it ironic that Grammy, the Thai company's name, itself infringes on what is actually a registered trademark of the Recording Academy in the USA which organises and awards the music awards known as "The Grammys".

With that incredible hypocracy in play, I find it difficult to find any sympathy at all for their position on copyright violation. And I even work in the media industry.