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Gazette - Canada cracks down on movie piracy
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NEWS NOTES
By Caroline Ross
Canada is no longer an easy source for pirated films that supply global markets, thanks to new legislation introduced in June 2007.
Bill C-59 amended the Criminal Code of Canada, making it a criminal offence to record a movie in a movie theatre without the consent of the theatre manager — an activity known as “camcording.”
Statistics from the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association indicate that, since 2003, films camcorded in Canada have been distributed in over 20 countries as either online offerings or hard goods.
“There’s always been an issue with pirated video,” says Supt Ken Hansen, director of the RCMP Federal Enforcement Program that enforces Canada’s copyright and trademark laws. “Camcording is only the source. With the (new) legislation, it’s much easier to target somebody who is caught in the act.”
The legislation gives municipal police the jurisdiction to arrest and charge anyperson caught camcording. The maximum penalty is five years in prison.
Previously, police could only nab camera-toting movie goers if federal investigators could prove an intent to commercially distribute the pirated films — a difficult task at the best of times, says Hansen.
Camcording has been a persistent problem in Canada since 2005, when the United States enacted its own anti-camcording legislation. Montreal is a particular hot spot because city cinemas show new-release films in both English and French.
According to RCMP S/Sgt Noel St-Hilaire of the Montreal Federal Investigation Section, the problem stems from a few tech-savvy individuals who record high-quality bootlegs then post them on the Internet. Once online, the pirated films are picked up by global criminal networks with the resources and infrastructure to burn large quantities of counterfeit DVDs and distribute them for sale.
“People have no idea how fast this can be done,” says St-Hilaire. “Once you’re on the Internet, you’re international.”
One counterfeiting operation disrupted by Toronto police in 2006 was capable of producing over 13,000 DVDs per day and generating up to $17 million per year.
As of January 2008, Canadian police had laid three camcording-related charges under the new legislation.
