Hollywood faces piracy battle

New technology threatens to bring the film industry the same copyright problems as the music industry, Hollywood's biggest studios have warned.
The head of the Motion Picture Assocoiation of America, which represents the studios, told the ShoWest trade convention an increasing number of films are being downloaded from the internet each day.
MPAA Chief Executive Jack Valenti told the Las Vegas gathering: "Some 270,000 movies are illegitimately downloaded every day.
"By the end of this year it is estimated that a million films will be pirated each day by otherwise rationally-minded Americans who ought to know that creative works are private property."
The major studios are all experimenting with pay-per-view technology which uses the internet to bring films direct to the home.
The MPAA has been active in attacking piracy and campaigning for stronger copyright protection for the US film industry.
It has taken legal action against software providers offering utilities that break copyright-protecting codes in DVD discs and in July 2000 took a joint action with record industry groups against Scour.com, an internet-based service which enabled users to search for both music and film files.

One of the most important points which are existed in this paper is the numbers and figures this number shows that 270,000 movies are illegitimately downloaded every day. Hollywood is one the greatest victim of piracy. This is happening while some studios are sharing movies by their clients through net. By this way the movies which are received by clients could be shared easily by each other, the affects of this illegal sharing is so harmful for movie industry specially Hollywood. New technology and also net although can provide so many facilities and benefit, sometimes causes so much lost for both side which are producer and even user.

China 'flooded' with pirate Windows XP

Pirated versions of Microsoft's Windows XP computer operating system have flooded Beijing's computer market, the local press reported, just days before its official launch in China.
Copies of Microsoft's latest product labelled "officially copyrighted" were freely available at the Zhongguancun computer market for about 30 yuan (£2.45; $3.60), the Beijing Evening News said.
Microsoft will launch a "simplified Chinese" version of Windows XP on Thursday with a price tag of 1,498 yuan (£123; $180).
Microsoft officials warned that the pirated versions were of sample versions and their use could cause damage to computers, the report said.
A number of a software manufacturers were also using the XP brand, with products called "Oriental Dadian XP" and "Jingying 315XP", to promote their sales, it said.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1637685.stm

I think, Pirated software hurts everyone from software developers to retail store owners, and also to all software users. And also illegal duplication and distribution of software has a significant impact on the economy. So the best way to avoid wasting time and money is purchasing from known and trusted source. in fact this is a best way to help stop this illegal activity and maybe the true way to protect the legal software and other intellectual property.

How cyber piracy affects you

"Copying software is so easy, of course I've done it," says Matthew, a London-based IT specialist. "That was in my undergraduate years - I didn't know anyone who bought the stuff legitimately.
"Someone would turn up and say 'give this a crack, it's the latest version' and it'd get passed around until it was obsolete. It was mostly office and spreadsheet programs, the kind of stuff you can download from the web now."
After graduation, Matthew used a mix of licensed and copied software until 1998. "On holiday in Malaysia, I bought a copy of Microsoft's FrontPage from a guy at a dodgy market stall. For months it worked fine, but it turned out to be laced with the Chernobyl virus - it cost £600 to repair the damage."
His fingers well and truly burned - and his spending power far greater than in his student years - Matthew now only uses licensed software. "Not only do they work properly, I get all the technical support and upgrades I need.
"I think Microsoft and other big firms benefited from that early piracy by my generation. Yes we saved money, but we became much more computer literate and so are now regular customers. I bought a photo editing program last year - I wouldn't have been interested if I hadn't tried out a bootleg copy years ago."

Cyber Pirating: A 12.5 Billion Dollar Economic Loss62

Statistics of Piracy From Music (from the RIAA):

•Piracy of music causes 12.5 billion dollars economic loss
•Jobs lost from piracy of music: 71,060
•2.7 billion dollars in wages lost (again from just music piracy)
•422 million dollars lost in tax revenue
•131 million dollars lost in corporate earnings

Statistics Piracy of Movies (from the MPAA):

•Movie piracy costs our economy 18.2 billion dollars a year
•141,030 jobs have been lost
•837 billion dollars of tax revenue is lost each year
•20.5 billion dollars of movie earnings is lost

What is Game Piracy?

Game piracy is an activity in which people make and distribute copies of a computer or console game without authorization from the game's developer and owner of the game's copyright. Estimates about the rate of game piracy vary, with some companies claiming rates as high as 90%, while others have more conservative numbers. Concerns about game piracy have led companies to use a variety of techniques to attempt to subvert piracy, ranging from making versions of their products available for free to having complex processes to validate their products when people use them.
People commit game piracy for a number of reasons. Some people do it for profit, purchasing legitimate versions of games for the purpose of copying and selling them. Some game pirates sell hard drives or discs loaded with numerous games, so that people can purchase a large package of pirated games. Other people copy and distribute games for friends so that they can save money, or because they do not realize that what they are doing is considered piracy. For example, if a game allows people to have five copies installed and someone passes copies to four friends and they in turn pass it on, the original purchaser would have been contributing to game piracy by handing out the legitimate versions.
www.wisegeek.com/what-is-game-piracy.htm

I’m confident, there is nothing positive about piracy and it has huge damage to the game market, copying a game is a cheaper than buying it because the copier is making no contribution to the cost of making the game in the first place.
so,obviously, the main effect of piracy on the game industry is that software companies have to raise their prices it because these Companies have used techniques like providing automatic updates in order to protect their product.

Video Game Piracy Market

50 to 75 percent of all internet traffic is illegal downloading
The AFP states that illegal downloading represents 50 to 75 percent of all Internet traffic worldwide
Source: AFP, ” Swedish crackdown on piracy pays off,” Google News, August 4, 2009

94 percent of video games in Brazil are pirated
The Brazilian Association for the Development of Video Games finds that up to 94 percent of all video games sold in Brazil are pirated.
Source: Pedro Franco, “A Nation of Pirates,” Escapist, May 12, 2009.

58 billion lost to US economy due to copyright piracy
At the World Copyright Summit in Washington, D.C., US Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) stated that piracy of movies, music, software and video games costs the US economy $58 billion a yer.
Source: AFP, “Calls for united action at World Copyright Summit,” Google News, June 9, 2009

http://www.havocscope.com/activities/counterfeit-and-piracy/video-game-piracy/

I think, when looking at the global picture, the total piracy rate is increasing and obviously piracy has an important effect on economic countries so, i think, it is important that national leaders within the legal aid community and setting adequate penetration strategies ,act on a national level to combat the problem.

What is Cyber Piracy?

Cyber piracy involves various deceptive practices that companies or individuals engage in to profit from online users. Within the legal aid community, these deceptive practices result in confusion for the public (particularly clients and potential clients) as well as take advantage of the good-will and reputation of legal aid organizations. Without a system to address cyber piracy, legal aid programs risk the chance that the public, especially unsophisticated online users, will not reach legitimate legal aid website and will be confused and possibly extorted on websites posing as legal aid.

There are a variety of practices within the term “cyber piracy” which may include cyber squatting, domain parking, and/or deceptive ad-word use. Each presents a unique challenge for a legal aid program that may lack the time, knowledge and resources to adequately pursue a resolution to these issues.
.http://lsntap.org/CyberPiracy_Why_Care

I think cyber piracy refers to activity which people make and distribute copies of a video game, film and books and ...illegally without authorization from the developers or owners. Cyberpiracy offenders operate on a different l level so depending on the extent of the piracy, and also in order to Protecting Copyright pirates can face fines and jail time for pirating works.