Antipiracy campaign launched<\/p>\n
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Indonesia, and other Asian countries, is indeed a large,
\ncompelling market for all types of consumer products from all
\nover the world.<\/p>\n
With such huge potential, however, the area has become a
\nsitting duck for pirates eying trademark and intellectual
\nproperty rights including those targeting optical discs,
\nespecially the new format of digital video discs (DVD).<\/p>\n
"Why would I buy original DVD titles? They are so expensive
\ncompared to the pirated ones. Pirated DVDs and those original
\nones are of the same quality more or less," said Ricardo, an IT
\nengineer working for a company in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The pirated DVDs are sold at between Rp 30,000 to Rp 50,000
\n(US$ 3.37 to $5.61) depending on the title. Meanwhile, the
\noriginals cost some Rp 180,000 to Rp 250,000 per title.<\/p>\n
Ricardo said that the case was different with VCDs where the
\npirated discs were of lower, poorer quality when compared to the
\noriginal discs.<\/p>\n
"Let's face it, most of us do not give attention to such
\nmatters. We will be happy enough to get good products at a low
\nprice, even if they are pirated," he said with a grin.<\/p>\n
Ricardo, as well as those who buy pirated goods, might have a
\nstrong argument but what they may not realize is that they could
\ncause problems for others.<\/p>\n
Not only those working for major film studios in Hollywood
\nthousands of miles away, but maybe their own neighbors who are
\nworking as local film distributors, theater gate keepers and
\nIndonesia's own film workers.<\/p>\n
Of course, pirates do not pay a single rupiah of tax to the
\ngovernment. The list goes on.<\/p>\n
These are the reasons given by state officials and industrial
\nrepresentatives during the launch of the declaration 2003 as
\n"Anti-Piracy Action Year in Asia" with the tagline "Nothing Beats
\nthe Real Thing: Say 'No' to Piracy" on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The loss is so huge that the Motion Pictures Association (MPA)
\nlaunches the DVD Rewards program to beat pirates in eight Asian
\ncountries, including Indonesia, with South Korea being the first
\ncountry to launch such a campaign on Feb. 14.<\/p>\n
The six other countries are Chinese Taipei, India, Malaysia,
\nthe Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.<\/p>\n
MPA represents major film studios in the United States and it
\nestimates that the U.S. motion picture industry loses more than
\n$3 billion annually in potential worldwide revenue due to piracy.<\/p>\n
Last year, there were some 6 million pirated DVDs seized in
\nAsia, or 87 percent of pirated DVDs seized the world over.<\/p>\n
"It is shared losses for both movie producers in America and
\nlocal industries here," said MPA Asia Pacific's director of the
\nregional optical disc office, Richard O'Neill during a press
\nconference on Friday.<\/p>\n
"Pirated DVDs enable moviegoers to watch a new film even
\nbefore it is released in the local market," he said.<\/p>\n
O'Neill joined Indonesian officials and industry
\nrepresentatives to launch the DVD Rewards program at Planet
\nHollywood on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Also present were two other MPA executives, vice president and
\nregional director Asia Pacific anti piracy operations, Michael C.
\nEllis and director of operations, Vincent Y.K. Koon.<\/p>\n
MPA is providing a hotline telephone number 0-800-1-672-672
\nwith full confidentiality for people to give information on
\nfactories manufacturing pirated DVDs.<\/p>\n
There is a $150,000 reward for a tip that leads to a
\nsuccessful raid, said Ellis.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, chairman of the Indonesian Intellectual Property
\nSociety, Gunawan Suryomurcito, strengthened O'Neill's argument by
\nsaying that Indonesian companies lost some $28 million from
\npiracy last year.<\/p>\n
"Lost profits means lost chances for new investment. This will
\nin turn cause less job creation," he said.<\/p>\n
"The government also suffers as pirates do not pay taxes,
\nwhereas legitimate companies do."<\/p>\n
Director general of intellectual property rights at the
\nministry of justice and human rights, Abdul Bari Azed, admitted
\nthat Indonesia had yet to have a solid system of handling cases
\nrelated to intellectual property rights.<\/p>\n
"The 2002 Law No. 19 on Intellectual Property Rights will go
\ninto effect in June so we can expect that piracy cases may
\ndecrease as the law calls for greater punishment.<\/p>\n
"Currently we are also drafting a government regulation on
\noptical discs protection especially targeting factories producing
\nillegal DVDs and VCDs," he said.<\/p>\n
O'Neill said that pirated DVDs had caused a significant drop
\nin the number of people visiting theaters.<\/p>\n
"If a theaters have to be closed down, surely it is a local
\none as we do not have theaters here.<\/p>\n
"We do suffer losses in DVDs sales but if there is a decrease
\nof some 30 percent at the theaters, whose job is lost? It is
\nyours for sure."<\/p>\n
Secretary general of the Indonesian Video Recording Importer
\nAssociation (Asirevi), Wihadi Wiyanto said that there were only
\nsome 600 theaters nationwide significantly down from about 3,000
\nin 1995, before the VCD entered Indonesia.<\/p>\n
"The theaters are losing the battle even with low-quality
\npirated VCDs. Now imagine if the high-quality pirated DVDs are
\navailable in such a great amount," he said.<\/p>\n
"This condition creates a difficult situation for national
\nmovie makers as they can only distribute their films with 21
\ntheater chain."<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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