Efforts to combat piracy stepped up

by David Kelleher

The Association against Copyright Theft is stepping up its efforts to combat the rampant rate of piracy in Malta by introducing a system whereby outlets are certified as sellers of original products.

The move comes about after the copyright bill was approved by Parliament earlier this month.

Contacted yesterday, the general secretary of the AACT, Matthew Cuomo, told The Malta Business Weekly that the association had decided to expand its membership and invite all parties interested in protecting copyright to join. Membership is open to all those who are involved in the music, video/films, computer games, entertainment and cultural and artistic industry.

"In this respect the AACT is creating a new associate membership with different categories for cinemas, dealers, distributors, producers, the press, TV/radio stations and others," Mr Cuomo said.

At present, the AACT is made up of Visual and Sound Communications (VSC), KRS, the local film distributors, MPA (Brussels) and the IFPI in London.

The sale of pirated products has badly affected the local industry and recent figure released by the AACT show that the situation is rampant and alarming.

According to the AACT, it is difficult to calculate how much the legitimate industry is losing annually, but the figure is in excess of Lm1 million a year.

Individuals selling pirated products are making an enormous profit without high production overheads and this is an extremely attractive venture. The fact that enforcement is relatively poor is an added boost.

Now that the copyright bill has been passed by parliament, the AACT increasing its efforts to have more enforcement and to reduce the lengthy and time-consuming procedures to prosecute individuals.

"Enforcement is one area that the AACT believes has to be tackled immediately. That is why the association is giving outlets the opportunity to get their house in order," Mr Cuomo said.

The membership plan will have dealers and shop owners committing themselves to selling only legitimate products. In turn, they will receive a certificate showing customers that products available from that outlet are genuine.

The AACT is also being very careful on how it tackles the piracy issue. Its intention is not to close down any outlets, who after all have families to support, but rather encourage them to sell only genuine products.

"Our first objective is to combat and stop piracy, not force dealers and owners out of business. We are giving them change, to clear out their pirated products and stock up on genuine goods," Mr Cuomo told The Malta Business Weekly.

Anyone interested in joining the AACT can contact the association on freephone 0800 773344.