14 DAY TRIAL // The fight against movie and software piracy has just recorded another win as the MPA along with the help of other organizations, including here the Malaysian Federation Against Copyright Theft, managed to shut down an illegal DVD facility located in Kajang, Malaysia. According to a press statement signed by the MPAA, the factory had the abilities to produce no less than seven million illegal discs per year, recording revenues of no less than $22 million.
As part of the raid, three men with ages between 20 and 50 were arrested while no less than 3,750 kg of polycarbonate were also seized. Besides that, two DVD replicating lines and one printing machine have also been confiscated. For those of you who don't know, polycarbonate is some kind of thermoplastic polymer which can be used for producing optical discs such as CDs and DVDs. According to the copyright organization, the raid was possible due to the tip provided by an informant who obviously remained anonymous.
"These back to back actions against pirate manufacturing bases taken by the MDTCA reflect the zero tolerance policy of the Malaysian government" said Mike Ellis, President and Managing Director, Asia-Pacific for the Motion Picture Association. "The MPAA is fully committed to supporting the government in their execution of this policy."
It's interesting to note that Asia is one of the regions of the world which caused one of the highest percentages of financial losses to the movies studios because, according to the MPAA, no less than $1.2 billion represented lost revenues in the Asia-Pacific region.
It's important to see such actions every once in a while because illegal facilities around the world make serious damages to the industry and, obviously, to the customers. However, there's still a lot of work to do until the MPAA reaches its goal and reduces the spread of the piracy phenomenon, so similar raids should occur anytime soon.