The flames of piracy are hard to extinguish, they are ablaze around the globe, with no signs of dying anytime soon. It appears a gang of 5 Hollywood studios have formed Voltron to battle C.H.I.N.A (the pirate robot). We get news of this altercation from the musky caves of Yahoo:
Five Hollywood studios have sued a Chinese online service and internet cafe they accuse of offering pirated downloads of “Pirates of the Caribbean” and other hit films, state media reported on Thursday.Beijing-based Jeboo.com and an Internet cafe in Shanghai face a legal showdown with Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures, Columbia Pictures, and Universal Studios, the Xinhua news agency reported. The film-makers allege Jeboo.com created software the cafe used to run a movie download business, and they are demanding 3.2 million yuan ($432,000) in compensation, Xinhua said.
The streets of China are filled with ripped DVD’s, CD’s and whatever other formats people will buy. It is a booming business and it is no surprise to see pirated product being sold online. The demand is huge and theft is always the best way to get a deal. Fighting piracy in China is like trying to vacuum the desert.
The studios are doing the right thing by going after the companies and not the individual fans. You should always try and work with people that enjoy your product, even if you do not like how they got it. As bad as the problem is, they should be happy that people enjoy their work – they may simply have to find new ways to move their product if people are changing their habits.
I am certain these types of cases will be going on long after I am dead. Studios have a tricky time ahead in China, the piracy is rampant but the market is exploding. These 5 will need the wisdom of Solomon as they continue on in their battle.
I think that the reasons for the Chinese piracy problem are not only the enforcement of respective laws, but also simply the lack of alternatives. The Chinese Film Bureau only allows a very limited amounts of western films to be played in Chinese cinemas. It’s quite obvious that many people would rather buy a fake copy of a new movie than wait for a legit DVD release or even risk not seeing it at all.
In my country, pirated DVDs are a way of life. It doesn’t help that the official releases of the shows are such poor quality, low on choices and more expensive than the pirated versions. Some diehards will stick to originals, but most Malaysians just get pirated DVDs, guilt-free, because what other options are there?
I tried, for a while, to buy only originals, but got pissed off by the poor quality (they look no better than cam recordings!), horrible subtitles (not just translation wise; since Malaysians speak numerous languages, half the screen is taken up by subtitles in mandarin, english and malay). In the end I gave up.
I duuno about China, but I did a study abroad in Japan a few years ago, and they have bootlegs everywhere. EVERYWHERE. You walk down the street in Tokyo and there are booths and tables set up all over where you can get excellent quality bootlegs.
China have a problem all over High Street stores sell copies.. its very difficult to find orginals in china. i go to HK once a year and i cant buy anything cause you cant gaurentee its the real thing. This just isnt a movie problem.. but the street food stalls are amazing scorpian on a stick defried brilliant. (i at least hope these are the real thing)
why would china care on this matter though I wonder. Hollywood is probably the most obvious representation of capitalism/western values. Why bother trying to crack down on this kind of thing, it’s not like chinese business is getting hit hard. Still, hollkywood should react positively instead .. set up their own cheap download system,I think this would work very well in China what with their high-speed net.
Also Pirates of the Caribbean.. really would anyone buy this on DVD now, that trilogy was god awful
But I thought all piracy came from Canada?