If you haven’t heard already here’s a collection of articles that covers the recent crack down on pirate software, music and videos – the biggest of its kind by the FBI covering the many counties;

DOJ who carried out the operation

BBC

Yahoo News

Wired

MSNBC

Ali

good news... Know if only the FBI would do the same for Indian DVDs. If the FBI did a major crack down on Indian movie piracy it would surely put end to this problem. After which I would think Eros and Video sound would start making quality DVDs as they wouldn't be losing any profits to the pirates

HA! HA! HA! You must be joking, anyhow I found it funny to read 'quality DVD' and the names 'Eros & Video Sound' in the same sentence. These two companies are perfect examples of the typical Indian companies. Short sighted, greedy and just interested in making a quick buck. Such companies don't care about 'art' 'quality' or for that matter even the 'paying customer'. It is in fact this very short sightedness and greedy attitudes that have promoted piracy.

I am not suggesting that they are solely responsible for piracy, but they are most definately responsible for promoting it by putting out such inferior DVDs, which at times are worse than the pirated ones. Instead of making it worth the effort for the customer to seek original DVDs they have only made the customer totally indeferent to 'Original or Pirated' since there is no difference in quality at all.

India,Italy,China,Taiwan are among the sevral countries where pirated version of Hollywood movies are flourishing. China is reported to be one of the countries which has been making a half hearted effort to crackdown on piracy of Hollywood movies. it's not even an effort but a mere gesture due to massive pressure put forth by Hollywood studios and American interest. One of the reason's FBI has not made any effort to counter piracy of Indian movies in USA is due to total lack of cooperation from Indian Government in making any efforts to crackdown of piracy of American movies in India

It's rampant practice for Bollywood to ripoff American movies,music with total disregard for copyright material. So they are not going to cast the first stone.

Just today visited some desi audio/video stores and once again they are passing out pirated DVD's from Baba,Apollo,GVI as if there is no tomorrow.of course I let my fingers do the walking by reporting these scums to local authorities.

let me ask you guys,how many of you have taken any action at all along besides merely listing suggestions on this site. I personally don't know you guys but I can say there are only few of us at this site for whom actions speak louder than words.

It would be very constructive if along with passing out our suggestion we can list our action's.

lakeshore




Edited By lakeshore on Dec. 14 2001 at 03:44

You talk about what we should do to help fight piracy, can you also tell us what we can do about companies like 'Video Sound, WEG, Eros etc' and the absolute crap that they keep dishing out. It is the attitude of such companies towards the paying customer that makes them totally indifferent towards piracy. In fact to most customers 'piracy' is a heaven send, atleast they don't have to buy and put up with the abysmal quality of some of the so called 'original' DVDs.

Sanjay, Pirated DVD's might be heaven sent to some,then these folks might not know the difference between right and wrong. Personally for me there is no quality in anything pirated
I have demanded a full refund or exchange if I felt product put forth by legit companies was not upto standards,this includes some releases by Yashraj like Chauduvin ka chand,madhumati etc. These includes both online and store purchases.

Just yesterday I was watching DVD releases of Jurassic park 3 & Rush Hour 2,transfers were flawless. It will be a long long time before Indian DVDs catch up to these standards. In the mean time if I really wanted to add a Indian DVD to my collection but the legit version was really crappy, I will pass it but will not get the pirated version because quality is better. For me there is no quality in piracy.

You sound like a smart guy and I'm will not suggest to you or anyone else what to do, it's a individual decision. What I was referring to in my earlier posting is for users to list their actions so even if it helps one user that would be great.

If there's a quality company like DEI there are hundreds of imposters like EROS,VIDEO SOUND and others.

lakeshore

If my previous post somehow suggests that I support piracy, then I am sorrry about it. Because that is far from what I intended it to be.

As an example of how companies like 'Video Sound, Eros, WEG etc' themselves promote piracy, let me relate a personal experience. 'Taal' which was an Eros title was one that I wished to own very much, not because I thought too much of the movie, but rather for A.R Rehman's excellent score. Anyhow after the movie came out I waited very patiently (almost 7 or 8 months if I remember correctly), thru the numerous delays by Eros before it was finally released and I bought it. During this period almost everyone I know bought the pirated version, which had been available almost immediately after the theatrical release. Although, I normally never expected much from any Eros DVD, in this case due to the hype created by Eros about how Subhash Ghai himself was deeply involved in every step of the making of the Taal DVD, I expected a atleast a decent if not an outstanding DVD. But guess what, when I finally watched the DVD, I was aghast at the fact that the pirated version available was superior to the crap that Eros had put out. I felt very cheated at that time, and also foolish. By the way, this was not the first or the last time that I have been thru this experience. 'Dil To Pagal Hai' for which we had to wait for over a year, was another such experience amongst numerous other such experiences. More recently it was the same story with 'Yaadein', albeit the wait was shorter this time.

Anyhow the point I am trying to make is that although I have been steadfast in my support for original DVDs, many others do not have the same moral standards on the issue. To be honest I don't blame them too much for it either.

There is one thing you must keep in mind, that movies unlike other products, are a monopoly. What I mean by it is, that unlike other products, no other company can release it and therefore it gives the copyright holder a monopoly on the product. By the way it is movies that we buy, not DVDs, which are just the medium that we choose to buy it on. Therefore the company manufacturing that DVD has a greater respoinsibility to provide atleast a reasonable level of quality to the paying customer. Thus, when the company does not deliver on its responsibility and actually rips customers off, then I am sorry to say, it is hard to feel any sympathy for such companies when pirated products steal business from them. In my opinion they are no better than the theives that pirate their movies.

Therefore the question is a moral one that has existed for ages. Is it okay to steal from a thief, ala Robin Hood considered a great folk hero.

Ever wonder why Microsoft is being targeted by the government for trying to monopolize the computer software industry.



Edited By Sanjay on Dec. 22 2001 at 10:20

I'll give my money to whoever makes the best DVDs, and if that happens to be a pirate, frankly, I will pay for a pirate DVD. I refuse to buy a bad quality Eros or Video Sound DVD simply because it is an official release. Why should I support a company that makes bad DVDs if a smaller pirate company can make a better one?

For me no more buying DVD's only rentals. After reading some of the posts I don't think i need getting pissed off. I get enough of that by watching bad drivers on the street.

Its been a long time since I bought an Indian DVD. I've rented many, though. I've purchased a few DVDs of American films, though. Unfortunately, an American DVD at its worst is often better than an Indian DVD at its best. Even the early Fox DVDs, which used the LD transfer, are better than current anamorphic Indian DVDs.