LOCAL film distributors held a news conference yesterday to warn the public and law enforcers that piracy in Cyprus was reaching crisis proportions.
K-Cineplex owner Dimis Karapatakis argued that millions had been invested in the film industry but that piracy was ruining business. Local distributors compared the influx of DVD pirated copies on the market to the 1980s cinema crisis when bootleg videos were sold on every corner.
“The laws are not respected. Films not yet out in Europe can be found all over the island in kiosks or video clubs for just a few pounds. It’s unacceptable,” said Karapatakis.
According to Karapatakis, thousands of music CDs, DVDs and games are floating around Cyprus, while in the last year alone, up to 70,000 DVDs were confiscated by police. For every original DVD, there is a pirated copy, maintained Karapatakis.
Asked how much the cinema industry was losing each year from pirated movies, he replied: “Put it this way, the state loses around three million pounds a year on lost VAT returns.”
The Cyprus Federation Against Copyright Theft (CyFACT) called on the government to recognise the need for effective protection of intellectual property rights.
CyFACT’s lawyer Achilleas Demetriades reminded law enforcement agencies that violation of copyright laws was a criminal offence carrying a sentence up to two years imprisonment and/or a fine of £1,500. He referred to the European Commission’s latest monitoring report, which highlighted the need to strengthen the enforcement of intellectual and industrial property rights, and required better training of customs, police and judiciary officials.
One local distributor said cinema ticket sales were reaching the same proportions as those during the 1980s crisis when video piracy took off in Cyprus. “If something doesn’t happen to stop this, we will have serious problems. I am not prepared to relive those times,” said the owner of Zena Palace cinema in Nicosia.
A key music distributor told the Cyprus Mail that for every original music CD on the market, there were three pirated, not to mention music downloaded from the internet. “It’s killing the music industry in general,” he said.
The illegal copying of films is estimated to cost the international film market approximately three billion dollars per year.
