Live and let live? Piracy may be here to stay
Live and let live? Piracy may be here to stay
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government has enacted scores of regulations to curb rising
piracy in the country following the implementation of Law No.
19/2002 on intellectual property rights. Still, thanks to the
lack of law enforcement, people can still buy pirated products,
especially music and video, in almost every corner of all cities
in the country. The Jakarta Post sheds light on the issue through
this cover story.
The face of lite-jazz singer Andien turned sour when The
Jakarta Post asked her comment on the unbridled trade of pirated
goods.
"Some of our musicians live solely on their earnings from
making music and those who illegally reproduce their work have
stripped them of their means of livelihood. I am lucky because I
still live with my parents who still have enough money although
all my albums are pirated," she said.
The twenty-year-old musician was right about piracy having
sapped the livelihood of the country's musicians.
A number of musicians have grown desperate about the rampant
piracy and decided to stop writing songs or seek greener pastures
in neighboring countries.
Singer James F. Sundah who was popular in the 1970s with his
song Lilin-lilin Kecil (Little Candles) called it a day with
songwriting and opted to perform live to make ends meet while
songwriter Bertje Van Houten found a way to release his songs in
Singapore and Malaysia.
Yes, piracy is so rampant that it has become a part of our
everyday lives.
Pirated materials, especially films and music are available at
almost every street corner in the city at extremely low prices.
The constant high demand for pirated materials has in fact
given vendors the confidence to claim their products are
authentic.
Buyers of pirated goods might find it funny to find an
antipiracy sticker with an X sign and "stop piracy" warning
stamped on the back cover of pirated DVDs, VCDs and CDs, a
feature usually found on original materials.
In fact, vendors of pirated goods have found a way to live in
peaceful co-existence with outlets selling original materials.
Vendors selling pirated CDs, VCDs and DVDs are found setting
up their stalls just a step away from one of the city's oldest
music stores on Jl. Sabang, in Central Jakarta, and buyers who
have just shopped inside the air-conditioned store always pay an
obligatory visit to the stall.
Vendors of pirated materials have also shown formidable
perseverance in conducting their business.
Dealing with lax enforcement of the intellectual property laws
as indicated by on-and-off raids, vendors engage in guerrilla-
style marketing tactics.
Vendors at one of the city's thriving centers for pirated DVDs
inside an upmarket shopping center in Central Jakarta, for
instance, are still operating only a few meters away from their
previous location.
Unafraid of possible raids, vendors put up signs showing where
visitors could find them at their new location. Once would-be
buyers get there it is business as usual.
With the market already saturated with pirated goods --
accounting for 90 percent of all products -- copyright holders
have little hope of curbing rampant piracy.
"We only hope that law enforcement could reduce it by 60
percent. Thirty percent is the benchmark from which we could
start a healthy business. It is just not possible to entirely
curb it," Budi Satrio, the Indonesian Association of Recording
Company (Asiri)'s antipiracy department head told The Jakarta
Post.
Of the pirated goods, 60 percent are available in Jakarta and
surrounding areas.
Budi said that although the government should be given credit
for initiating a campaign against copyright infringement, their
foot soldiers do not sense the urgency of combating piracy.
"We have joined the police and officials from the Ministry of
Justice and Human Rights in frequent raids, but they were at a
loss as to what to do next with vendors who are caught red-handed
selling pirated goods," he said.
In combating piracy, Asiri has ruled out the option of
lowering the price of original materials saying that by doing so
the recording company would be considering copyright violators as
their rightful competitors.
"It is an uneven competition we pay between Rp 5,000 (52 US
cents) and Rp 15,000 for value-added tax to the government while
pirated DVDs are available at that value," Budi said.
The film and recording industry suffers potential losses of Rp
16 trillion each year from piracy, while the government loses Rp
1 trillion each year in unpaid taxes.
The severest blow to the film industry from rampant piracy was
the closure of movie theaters in some of the country's major city
like Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surakarta and also the majority of
regency capitals.
The availability of new film releases at low prices has
encouraged people to enjoy home entertainment and eventually
killed off the habit of going to the cinema.