Bootleg videos found at local store
Published 12:00 am Saturday, January 31, 2004
On Friday, the Demopolis Police Department confiscated more than $1,000 worth of counterfeit DVD movies.
The movies were discovered during an investigation at a local business. The case is still under investigation and additional information is not available at this time. The case is still under investigation.
The bootleg movies included many copies of the new releases “Torque, My Baby’s Daddy.”
Det. Sgt. Tim Soronen seized them during the case. Possession of these movies is a violation of Alabama Law and could result in a felony conviction. The public should also be warned that these movies are of poor quality and to purchase a new release DVD for $10 should tell you that it is a possible bootleg.
If you have any information about other persons selling or being in possession of large amounts of counterfeit movies or music please contact the Demopolis Police Department Investigations Division at 334-289-3073.
According to the Motion Picture Association of America’s official website MPAA and its international counterpart, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), estimate that the U.S. motion picture industry loses in excess of $3 billion annually in potential worldwide revenue due to piracy.
Due to the difficulty in calculating Internet piracy losses, these figures are not currently included in the overall loss estimates. In 2000, more than 20 million pirate optical discs were seized, and by comparison, 4.5 million videos were seized worldwide in the same period.
One real-world example of piracy’s devastating impact on the legitimate marketplace is with the 1999 release of the film Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace. Pirate copies of the film (created by using camcorders in the U.S. theaters) flooded the Asian marketplace while the film was still in U.S. theatrical distribution.
In addition, home entertainment retailers lost vital business in the home video window due to the availability of pirated copies. In this case, piracy affected legitimate theatrical distributors, exhibitors, and local businesses.