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“We are currently awaiting a court decision which will set the rules of engagement for the
process and will establish the precedent for blocking websites. Nothing is more important
or urgent as, every day that passes, tens of thousands of our movies are stolen,” he said.
“It is a devastating, contagious plague as more people, typically unaware that it is wrong,
become infringers because the sites are wide open and no apparent action has been taken
by government.”
Once the judge’s decision has been handed down, Burke said Village Roadshow has pre-
pared to bring court action to request the blocking of 100 sites. He said Foxtel and various
sporting bodies had also indicated they would take similar action.
Village Roadshow is also in the process of working with Google to support the taking down
of pirate sites within search options, emphasising legitimate and legal options within them
instead.
Further, Village Roadshow plans to protect its copyright by suing repeat infringers.
“Not for a king’s ransom, but akin to the penalty for parking a car in a loading zone. If the
price of an act of thievery is set at say $300, we believe most people will think twice,” said
Burke.
“However, the more important role of the legal action is to be part of the process of
educating people that piracy is indeed wrong and theft.”
Burke said many people believe piracy is a harmless activity, and assume from continued
practice that is both socially and legally acceptable.
“These are the attitudes we believe we can change,” he said.
Any revenue derived from the proposed legal program will devoted to positive education on
piracy, said Burke.
“If we can consolidate the view held in the community that piracy is theft, damaging to our
way of life and if we can carry the people of Australia with us, then we will have won the
war.”
Editor’s comments:
We hear a lot from industry people about downloading and piracy, but not a lot about where the source
material comes from. If it’s available to download before being released in cinemas, then where is it sourced
from?
The industry’s approach is a bit like turning on the bath tap and watching the bath fill up, and then trying to
stop the bath from overflowing – when turning off the tap would he more effective!
The “tap” in this case refers to the people within the industry who have access to the finished movie prior to
its cinema release, as well as those who are provided pre-release copies for evaluation and publicity.
Surely, with modern encryption systems, it would be possible to embed a unique serial number into each
pre-release copy supplied which could be back-tracked from the down-loaded copy to its source.
Of course, for many, the “in cinema” experience at many venues leaves a lot to be desired – too expensive,
sound too loud, people using phones, far too many ads and trailers, etc. For many, stay at home viewing is
more attractive.
The above comments are not in any way intended to endorse piracy or illegal downloading of material, but
are added as a query as to why the industry is not looking inwards as well as expecting others to limit ac-
cess to their material.
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