zlatko pejakovic

19425 Bulletin Jan08:Layout 1
March35
...
Issue
Issue 2008
26
January
In this issue:
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Belgium
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Netherlands
Czech Republic
Spain
Spain
Italy
Hungary
Brazil
Colombia
Argentina
Nigeria
U.S.A.
China
Indonesia
Malaysia
Australia
Indonesia
Malaysia
Russia
News in brief
Turkey
Russia
People
Diary 2008
Contact details
enforc
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bulletin
31/01/2008
17:50
Page 1
INTERPOL launch Intellectual Property crime course
IFPI experts participated in the
first ever intellectual property
rights (IPR) training seminar
organised by INTERPOL in
November. The event saw 26
police investigators from 18
countries attend a course
designed to promote the global
investigation of IPR crime.
Law enforcement officers heard
from IPR experts from the
music, pharmaceutical, sportswear and tobacco industries, as
well as speakers from the US
Chamber of Commerce, FBI and
Department of Homeland
Security.
respective countries and were
tasked with developing training
programmes to enhance the
investigation of IPR crimes on
their return home. Backup will be
provided by INTERPOL, which
has already launched a revised
version of its training manual that
is being translated into several
languages.
The event was hosted by the GdF
at the Scuola Polizia Tributaria
and organised in conjunction with
the INTERPOL IP Crime Action
Group
and
the
Italian
Government.
The GdF offered to make these
facilities available for a second
course planned for March 2008.
Such was the interest generated
by this innovative programme
that three other countries have
also offered to host similar
INTERPOL sponsored training
courses in the future.
Source: IFPI
During the event visits were
made to offices of the Guardia di
Finanzia (GdF) in Rome and
Italian Customs at Fiumicino airport to see how piracy and counterfeiting offences are dealt with
in Italy.
Officers attending the course
gave presentations about the
problems they encounter in their
Students and Instructors at the inaugural INTERPOL training seminar at
the Guardia di Finanza School in Ostia.
SENIOR POLICE CHIEF JOINS IFPI TO HEAD ANTI-PIRACY TEAM
Len Hynds, Former Assistant
Chief Constable and Deputy
Director of the Serious
Organised Crime Agency
(SOCA), joined IFPI on 2nd
January 2008 as head of antipiracy enforcement.
He will lead a team that works
alongside governments and
agencies across the world tackling the widespread production
and trafficking of pirate CDs. He
will also work closely with IFPI's
London-based Internet AntiPiracy Unit, using his specialised knowledge of cyber-
crime and hi-tech enforcement.
Hynds is one of the UK's most
senior specialists in fighting
organised crime and has played a
key role in advising government
on how to tackle hi-tech and
cybercrime. He has more than 30
years experience in the police
force, including several years as
the first head of the UK's National
Hi-Tech Crime Unit.
Hynds is also widely acknowledged as an international expert
in the field of criminal enforcement.
Len Hynds says: "Organised
crime in all its guises acts like a
parasite on the legitimate infrastructures of society. Nowhere is
this more obvious than in the
world of music piracy. Turning
the tide against this destructive
phenomenon is a challenge I relish. IFPI is an impressive organisation, and I am pleased to be
joining the team. I believe the
key to achieving real impact in
the future will be innovation and
genuine partnership at national
and international level. "
Source: IFPI
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Page 2
Regional news
Europe
NETHERLANDS
BOLLYWOOD PIRATES FINED BY DUTCH COURT
A Dutch court has fined a number of Rotterdam shopkeepers up to €15,000 each for selling
pirated Bollywood material.
Three of the defendants were also given community service sentences of up to 200 hours and
a three month conditional prison sentence.
The verdicts came at the end of a trial that was triggered by a raid in March 2005 which saw
the seizure of more than 140,000 CDs and DVDs containing Indian music and movies from 13
shops across Rotterdam.
Most of the illegal product originated in Pakistan, a major source of illegal copies of popular
Indian films and music.
The raids had involved around 100 officers from the Dutch fiscal police, supported by investigators from record industry bodies IFPI and BPI as well as Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN,
who assisted the authorities in identifying illegal product.
BPI, which represents the UK recording industry, had a Bollywood music and film piracy expert
who supplied specialist advice and additional intelligence ahead of the raids. The rate of
Bollywood music and film piracy in the UK is estimated at 70 per cent, far higher than the average national music piracy rate of 10 per cent.
Tim Kuik, Managing Director of BREIN, says: "Despite the high profile of online piracy, the sale
of counterfeit Bollywood CDs and DVDs is still a major problem in the Netherlands. We are
pleased with this verdict that sends a strong message to shopkeepers tempted to make a
Source: BREIN
quick profit by selling illegal product."
SUMOTORRENT SITE CHASED OUT OF HOLLAND
Sumotorrent, one of the largest illegal peer-to-peer (p2p) websites, was taken offline by its
hosting provider Leaseweb following a demand by Dutch anti-piracy foundation BREIN.
The site moved its hosting overseas and is now moving from jurisdiction to jurisdiction in an
effort to escape being permanently shut down. Sumotorrent provides its users access to more
than 700,000 files, which mainly contain illegal films, music, games and other unauthorised
content. The website started six months ago and rapidly attracted 350,000 users a day.
Sumotorrent's operator admits that he earns a five figure monthly income.
The Netherlands is often incorrectly thought of as a safe haven by the operators of services
providing access to illegal content. It is often mentioned on the blogs and forums used by internet pirates as a country without copyright issues. In particular, Leaseweb has been named as
the best hosting provider for illegal p2p sites. The actual situation is radically different with
BREIN having closed down more than 200 illegal p2p sites across Holland.
Tim Kuik, director of BREIN, says: "The operators of sites like these think they are not doing
anything to break the law because the illegal content they are using is not stored on their site
but with their users. Yet in Holland it is prohibited for a website to make structural use of the
availability of illegal content. So it does not matter whether the illegal content is stored somewhere else, the site is still busy organising its illegal distribution.
"BREIN will continue to ensure that sites that occupy themselves with the unauthorised distribution of films, music and games cannot easily operate from the Netherlands."
BELGIUM
FLIKKENDAG 2007
IFPI Belgium participated in the ninth edition
of the "Flikkendag" in Ghent on 30th
September. The event is linked to a Belgian
police TV show called "Flikken" and organised by the Federal Police of Ghent. This
year's theme was Europe and more than
100,000 visitors attended.
IFPI Belgium, which has co-operated for
several years with the police in order to fight
against piracy and counterfeiting, set up an
information booth together with the Belgian
Anti-Piracy Federation (BAF) at the event.
Visitors were given an opportunity to learn
about problems relating to the illegal sharing of copyright infringing music on the internet and counterfeit CDs and DVDs. In a
multimedia presentation IFPI Belgium also
explained a number of European anti-piracy
campaigns.
Several Belgian artists, including Katerine
and Danzel, were invited to a signing session where fans could ask for autographs on
their CDs. Due to the success of the stand,
the organisation has invited IFPI Belgium to
the 10th and last session of Flikkendag.
Source: IFPI Belgium
Anti-piracy Training
IFPI Belgium and BAF were invited by the
newly-formed Administration of Economic
Inspection, which has authority to fight piracy, and the Police Academy PIVO to host a
training day in November on counterfeiting
and piracy.
The purpose of the day was to train the
police officers about the identification of
counterfeited music, films and games, both
online and physical product, and to explain
how IFPI and BAF could assist them in their
work.
Source: IFPI Belgium
Source: BREIN
2
EB 35/JAN 08
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Regional news
Europe
UNITED KINGDOM & NETHERLANDS
Worlds largest pre-release pirate music site shut
British and Dutch police have shut down the world's biggest source of illegal pre-release chart
albums and arrested a 24-year old man in an operation coordinated between Middlesbrough
and Amsterdam.
The raids, which took place in October and were coordinated by Interpol, followed a two-year
investigation by the international and UK music industry bodies IFPI and BPI into the members-only online pirate pre-release club OiNK.
OiNK specialised in distributing albums leaked on to the internet, often weeks ahead of their
official release date. More than 60 major album releases were leaked on OiNK in 2007, making it the primary source worldwide for illegal pre-release music.
The site, which had an estimated membership of 180,000, was used by many hardcore filesharers to violate the rights of artists and producers by obtaining copyrighted recordings and
making them available on the internet.
It is alleged that the site was operated by a 24-year-old man from Middlesbrough area, who
was arrested by local police. The site's servers, based in Amsterdam, were also seized in a
series of raids. OiNK's operator allegedly made money by setting up a donations account on
the site facilitated by PayPal.
Cleveland Police and the FIOD-ECD SCHIPOL branch of the Dutch police undertook the raids,
supported by INTERPOL, as part of a carefully-planned international investigation involving
anti-piracy investigators from IFPI and BPI.
OiNK used the BitTorrent protocol to distribute copyright infringing music. Torrent sites such
as OiNK effectively act as a library for illegal music files. BitTorrent is the most popular software for internet file sharing and OiNK was the best-known service for pre-release piracy.
OiNK operated an exclusive membership scheme by which users were only invited to join the
site if they could prove that they had music to offer. They were encouraged to distribute
recordings in the torrent file format with other OiNK members and had to keep posting such
music to the site to maintain their membership.
Once an album had been posted on OiNK, users that downloaded the music then passed the
content to other websites, forums and blogs, where multiple copies were made.
Within a few hours of a popular pre-release track being posted on OiNK, hundreds of copies
could be found further down the illegal online music supply chain.
UNITED KINGDOM
No Insurance leads
to two arrests
Occasionally arrests for piracy come about
through unlikely circumstances. Police officers in County Durham, England arrested
two men on suspicion of conspiracy to
defraud the music and film industries, after
they were stopped in a car, which was identified as having no insurance.
After questioning the two men in the car, further enquiries were made which led police
to execute search warrants at their two
houses.
The two individuals had already been under
suspicion after investigations by BPI and
FACT into the supply and distribution of
counterfeit music and film in the region.
Police said that officers from the force's
Automatic Number Plate Recognition
(ANPR) unit were on duty in Chester-leStreet, when they stopped a car being driven by the two suspects.
The subsequent raids uncovered an estimated 30,000 discs comprising music,
films, TV series, and computer games.
Several Xboxes were also recovered along
with recording equipment, toner cartridges
and around £500 in cash. The car has also
been seized under the Proceeds of Crime
Act and the two men were arrested for
copyright offences.
Source: BPI
The recording industry says that the closure of the site was an important victory in the industry's bid to tackle copyright theft.
Jeremy Banks, Head of the IFPI's Internet Anti-Piracy Unit, said: "OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online. This was not a case of a few friends sharing music
for pleasure. This was a worldwide network of users that acquired music they did not own the
rights to and posted it online. This operation was a classic example of how the recording
industry can work with law enforcement agencies to prove that illegal operations on the internet are not immune from detection."
Source: IFPI London
EB 35/JAN 08
Computers linked to servers controlling the
Oink site
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Regional news
Europe
Czech Republic
DOGGED DETERMINATION SNIFFS OUT PIRATES
The border towns of the Czech Republic host around 60 markets catering almost entirely for
visitors from the neighbouring countries of Austria and Germany. The markets are notorious
for the sale of all types of counterfeit product. The damage caused by these markets to the
music and film industries alone is estimated at several million euro each year.
In November, Czech Customs officers raided two border markets in Cheb and Strazny, actions
that were prepared and co-ordinated by IFPI Austria and VAP, representing the MPA in Austria.
These markets had been the subject of previous raids but are remarkably resilient and
persistent in their illegal activities.
On this most recent occasion, a special squad of Czech customs authorities were
accompanied by two specially trained dogs, Lucky and Flo, who have the ability to detect
optical discs. During the raids, officers searched 14 warehouses, numerous stalls and two
vans. In total more than 17,000 discs containing music and films were seized and two people
were arrested.
Among the discs seized were large quantities of the new album from the very popular German
group "Die Ärzte", officially released only the day before the seizure and copies of the
forthcoming new album "X" from Kylie Minogue, scheduled for release at the end of
November. The content of this CD mainly consisted of older songs by the artist. Both CDs
were of very poor quality, having been downloaded from the internet. Also found were film
titles including brand new blockbusters such as 'Ratatouille'.
The border markets have flourished during the last few years and it is estimated that about
one million pirated discs are available in these markets every day. Such is the scale of this
illegal activity it is thought that about 80 per cent of the counterfeit CDs sold in Eastern
Austrian flea markets originate from this source.
Source: IFPI Austria
Spain
JOINT POLICE /
CUSTOMS ACTION TO
DISMANTLE ILLEGAL
MUSIC PLANT
Madrid Local Police and the Customs
Department of the Spanish Tax Agency
carried out a joint operation that led to the
dismantling of an illegal music plant
The plant was where music CD-Rs and film
DVD-Rs were produced which were then
distributed to street sellers in Madrid.
These pirate vendors then sold these
counterfeit products in bars and pubs
across Madrid.
After inquiries carried out by both
enforcement agencies, two people were
arrested and 83 burners, 27,325 music CDRs and 18,475 DVD-Rs seized.
Production capacity of the dismantled plant
has been estimated at approximately
84,000 discs weekly on a 24/7 basis. The
market value of such weekly production
amounts to over one million euro.
OPERATION CASPER II
HITS PIRATES IN
GRANADA
After a two-month investigation following
the street sellers of pirate music and films
around Granada's restaurants and bars, the
Judicial Police Unit of the Armilla Guardia
Civil determined that these vendors
wereobtaining their products from
addresses raided a year previously by the
police as part of Operation Casper.
The police therefore named their
subsequent actions in Churriana de la Vega
Operation Casper II. In September, five
addresses were raided and twelve people
were arrested. The results of these raids
indicated that the leaders of the pirate
network disrupted last year had remained
active.
Paws for thought. Flo in action during
search in Czech Republic
4
Material seized during raid in Granada
The seized material included almost 30,000
CD-Rs, 20,000 DVD-Rs, 30 burners in five
recording towers and around 8,000 inlays
and 2,500 jewel cases. €8,000 in cash was
also discovered during the raids.
Source: Promusicae
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HUNGARY
SPAIN
Raids in Barcelona
Police have carried out two major anti-piracy operations in Barcelona with the assistance of
Promusicae, the Spanish National Group.
A total of 14 people were arrested during the raids in which two major pirate networks were
dismantled. As a result of the raids, 62 burners and 23,000 CDs and DVDs were seized.
The first operation was carried out by the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalonian autonomous
police, who raided a flat where six people were arrested and 3,428 DVDs and 5,972 CDs
were seized.
The second operation was undertaken by the Spanish National Police, who carried out the
search of a flat in the city. During the raid, eight people were arrested and 62 burners
(seven towers), 6,044 CDs and 6,957 DVDs were seized, together with 10,000 inlays.
Left: Burners seized during the raid
Right: Storeroom displaying pirate product
ITALY
Source: Promusicae
Italian government, IFPI and FPM sign antipiracy agreement.
Giovanni Kessler, High Commissioner for anti counterfeiting, Paul Warren, IFPI anti piracy coordinator for Europe, and Luca Vespignani, Secretary General of FPM, have signed a
memorandum of understanding aimed at enhancing co-operation in the struggle against music
piracy.
The High Commissioner, IFPI and FPM agreed that the fight against music piracy plays an
essential role in the protection of the national and European commercial interests and
prevents heavy losses in tax revenues as well as huge losses for the legitimate music industry.
The growth of music piracy has led IFPI and FPM to reinforce their co-operation with
government agencies at both national and international level. The High Commissioner has
acknowledged the music industry's needs and believes a specific enforcement action plan
should be put in place.
Regional news
Europe
Police raids halt
Bittorrent sites
Hungarian police have conducted their first
raids against the operators of Warez and
BitTorrent servers that were distributing
music files on the internet without permission from rights holders. It was the first time
officers took such action based on the reasonable suspicion of copyright violations.
The raids, which took place in and around
Budapest, were the fruit of an intensive education programme for police and prosecutors run by PROART, the Hungarian antipiracy organisation.
Officers concluded, based on available evidence, that there were grounds for reasonable suspicion concerning a large quantity
of available illegal content on servers that
were accessible using the internet.
The content was made available after users
paid several thousand Hungarian forints
into a bank account, the exact amount
depending on the timing and speed of the
downloads of the music files.
Investigators conducted raids at various
locations in Budapest and Pest County on
8th November, and as a result, nearly 30
computers and numerous hard drives were
seized.
Officials are still determining the exact content made available and the financial damage caused, but based on preliminary data,
the damage is estimated to be in excess of
one billion forints (around US$5 million).
Criminal charges have been filed against
three suspects.
As an indication of the success of these
operations, the volume of internet traffic in
Budapest declined by 30 per cent in the following few days (BIX: the Budapest Internet
Exchange).
Source: ProArt/Mahasz
The plan includes monitoring, prevention and enforcement actions against all aspects of music
piracy. IFPI and FPM will also co-operate with the High Commissioner in public awareness
campaigns aimed at raising consumers' understanding of the damage caused by the music
piracy.
Source: FPM
EB 35/JAN 08
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Regional news
Latin America
BRAZIL
Major street raids in Brazil
Authorities in Farroupilha, a city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, seized around one million
blank optical units, two hundred burners and approximately half a million dollars worth of computer notebooks destined for the various pirate markets of Brazil, during raids in October. The
seized goods came from the border town of Rivera in Uruguay.
Intelligence indicated that for the past year the duty free markets of Rivera had become a new
wholesale outlet for suspect blank optical media and burners. Most of these goods were being
sent to Ciudad del Este in Paraguay.
The Uruguayan Customs Service believes that in 2007 approximately 35 million blank optical
CD-Rs arrived at the duty free markets in Rivera having been falsely declared.
A second major operation occurred when Brazilian authorities intercepted three so-called
tourist buses, from Ciudad de Este, on a major highway renowned as a route for shipping
pirate goods in the Tri-border region. They seized a total of 210,000 CD-Rs and DVD-Rs containing pirated music and movies along with 185 burners and over 300,000 dollars in computer notebooks. Three people were detained.
The Brazilian anti-piracy team, Associacao Anti-pirateria de Cinema e Musica (APCM) and
IFPI Special Project operations in the area provided key information needed by the authorities
to conduct the operation.
Later in October, the Military Police executed 18 search warrants in the well-known pirate market of Galeria Pagé. The market is located in the heart of Sao Paulo City's major commercial
district. A total of 105,000 DVDs and 18,300 CD-Rs containing illegal film and music products
were seized. This marks the third time in a year that Galeria Pagé was raided.
Source: IFPI Latin America
COLOMBIA
CD-R lab seized in
Bogota
Colombian law enforcement authorities,
with assistance from IFPI's local antipiracy team (Apdif Colombia), executed a
raid on a major duplicating facility located
in the Candelaria Centro Shopping centre
in Bogota.
As a result of the October raid, 90 burners were seized. The number of burners
in a single location makes this raid one of
the most significant in the music industry's ongoing anti-piracy enforcement
campaign in Colombia.
The operation also had strategic value
because the raid site was located in a
commercial area offering legitimate products. As part of the raid, police also dismantled a storage and distribution center
for pirate music products and audiovisual
material that served other major markets,
including Bogotá.
A total of around 5,000 music and film
CD-Rs & DVD-Rs, more than 87,000 inlays, and 52,800 labels were seized in
the storage area. Police arrested and
detained three people during the raid.
Burners seized in La Candelaria
In other operations in Colombia officers
from SIJIN executed warrants in Aguachica
Cesár, seized 32 burners and arrested 3
persons involved in duplicating pirate CDs.
In the southern suburbs of Bogata officers
seized 15 burners and arrested one further
person suspected of supplying discs to the
San Andresito markets.
6
Burners and blank diiscs seized during enforcement activity
Source: APDIF Colombia
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Regional news
Latin America / North America
ARGENTINA
Largest seizure of burners in Argentina
In Argentina, 300 officers from the Gendarmería Nacional and the Prefectura Naval
Argentina from the Buenos Aires suburb of La Salada carried out a series of raids against
music pirates.
The operation, which commenced on the
morning of 2nd October and finished the on
the evening of the following day, recovered
enormous quantities of infringing material.
During the search of 13 homes, officers
uncovered storerooms and burning sites in
various locations.
The group behind this illegal activity had
divided their operations to minimise the risk of Search underway by officers from the
discovery, producing discs in some locations, Gendarmeria Nacional
printing the inlays in others and packaging
the product for distribution elsewhere. The material was then sold in disparate sites
across the city.
The product seized included 8.6 million inlay cards, 273 high speed burners, 136,067
master optical discs, 11,850 blank discs and 45,200 jewel boxes. Four people were
detained pending further investigation.
Source: CAPIF
NIGERIA
Industry bodies train Nigerian law enforcement
Nigerian officials drawn from different law enforcement agencies benefited from a training
session conducted by IFPI and MPA in September.
On 21st September, 25 participants from the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Nigeria Police,
Nigeria Customs Service and Standard Organisation attended the first leg of the training in
Abuja, the Nigerian capital city.
USA
Global investigation,
arrests in Las Vegas
and Maryland
In March 2007, a number of suspected
pirate music DVD hip hop albums were
found in a shop in Sydney, Australia. These
DVDs were part of a series and had all been
imported into the country by an Australian
distributor. At the same time, similar titles
were seen in some well-known UK retail
outlets.
In an investigation that encompassed
national groups in Australia, Britain, Israel
and the United States as well as IFPI's
forensic laboratory in London, the source of
the material was eventually established.
The investigations led back to an American
company and in December 2007 Nevada
law enforcement officials, acting on information provided by RIAA investigators, seized
more than 40,000 infringing music video
DVDs, 12 computers, 14 duplicating
machines and thousands of fraudulent
inserts.
The owner of the company was arrested on
felony violations of Nevada labelling law. A
second simultaneous enforcement action
was also undertaken in Maryland, resulting
in yet more seizures and the arrest of the
owner of a retail outlet.
The Director-General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Adebambo Adewopo, opened the
session and thanked the IFPI/MPA team for assisting the LEAs to build their capacity for
tackling the serious problem of optical disc piracy in the country.
The training programme was timely, coming when the Copyright Commission was
commencing the implementation of the Optical Disc Regulation, which recently became law.
The training shifted to Lagos where a further 41 officers drawn from the same four
organisations attended. Participants were taken on visits to 11 optical disc replicating plants
as part of the training.
These plant visits enabled each participant to gain hands-on practical knowledge of what was
taught in the training room. Officers showed great enthusiasm throughout the visits and
expressed gratitude to IFPI and MPA for organising the training sessions.
Source: Akeem Aponmade, IFPI/MPA National Co-ordinator, Lagos
EB 35/JAN 08
Some of the suspected pirate DVDs found
during the investigation.
Source: Kenny Giel RIAA
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Regional news
Asia Pacific
CHINA
Seven years imprisonment for pirate leader
On 5th November, the ring leader of a pirate syndicate based in Chongqing received a prison
term of seven years and had assets worth RMB 50,000 (US$6,800) confiscated.
The convicted person, Li, had been operating a burning lab in the Sha Ping Ba District with a
daily production rate of tens of thousands discs which were distributed to various cities in the
Sichuan and Guizhou provinces in addition to the local towns at RMB 1.30 (US$0.17) per disc.
The operation continued until December 2006 when the Chongqing Cultural Market
Enforcement Team and Public Security Bureau officers raided Li's home as well as his
warehouse in Shi Qiao Pu District. A total of more than half a million burnt discs and 128
burners were seized.
Allegedly, Li set up the lab together with five others including one who was arrested in October
2007. The other four associates are still at large. IFPI's Asian Regional Office is in close
contact with the authorities in Chongqing and is set to provide assistance such as copyright
evidence when required.
Clandestine warehouse raided in Guangzhou
Hai Yin City in Yuexiu District (Guangzhou Municipal, China) is an area of high-end audiovisual equipment and music products, but unfortunately the convenience has attracted pirate
distribution syndicates who have been going underground with their operation.
The continuous efforts of IFPI Asian Regional
Office paid off in October with the successful
unveiling of four clandestine storage facilities
where all kinds of pirate audio-visual products,
including pornography, could be found. The
matter was brought to the attention of the
Guangzhou Municipal MOC Task Force, who on
the same day conducted a series of raids on
those facilities. A total of more than 40,000 discs
were seized.
Seized product in Hai Yin City
These dens had a high daily turn-over volume and were estimated to be responsible for the
majority of supplies in the district.
Distribution centre hidden in residential area
The Guangdong Provincial MOC received a tip-off in October about the possible existence of
a huge storage facility and distribution centre hidden in the outskirts of a residential area in
Nan Hai District of Foshan.
Their preliminary investigation confirmed the intelligence and on 12th November a van conveying pirate discs in the area led the investigating officers to the distribution centre, which
was immediately raided.
In addition to the van, 400,000 pirate discs were seized and one person arrested. According
to the authorities, the case will be handed to local PSB for criminal prosecution.
Source: IFPI Asia Pacific
8
CHINA
Infringing websites "Unplugged"
The Guangzhou Municipal MOC Task Force
(GZMOC) physically located the server of
an infringing website, terminated its connection and seized it following a complaint from
IFPI's
Asian
Regional
Office.
The authorities also brought the website
operator in for questioning.
The website had offered more than 100,000
songs for unauthorised free download. The
GZMOC handed down an administrative
punishment to the operator and confiscated
the server in October.
IFPI's Asian Regional Office in China filed
more than 300 administrative complaints in
2007 with the National Copyright
Administration of The People's Republic of
China, National Anti-Piracy & Pornography
Office, the Ministry of Culture, and various
local Copyright Bureaus.
This has led to various administrative punishments being imposed upon the operators
and owners of those infringing music websites, including shut-down orders, seizure of
server orders, orders to takedown infringing
links, fine orders and orders to cease
infringement.
Despite these successful results, a small
number of these infringing websites have
re-appeared on the internet and their operators have re-located their website servers to
other regions within China to evade detection and action by local government departments. IFPI will continue to pursue these
infringing websites and file more complaints
against new infringing websites across
China.
Since October 2006, 65 infringing websites
have been ordered to shut down by various
Government departments in China after
complaints from IFPI about the infringement
of copyrighted sound recordings. In addition, more than 4,700 Cease and Desist
notices were sent to infringing websites in
China in 2007 and approximately 70 per
cent of them closed.
Source: IFPI Asia Pacific
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Regional news
Asia Pacific
INDONESIA
MALAYSIA
Following on from factory raids in July 2007,
which closed two businesses and recovered
11 lines, a third registered facility was raided
by a combined team of Indonesian police
and IFPI personnel in August.
Malaysian authorities raided three illegal optical disc manufacturing plants, recovered six
replication lines, several hundred infringing stampers and thousands of infringing discs in
November and December.
FURTHER FACTORY RAID
On entry, the seven-line facility was found to
be manufacturing pirate products. An investigation uncovered 40,000 infringing discs
and 125 stampers, none of which were
marked with the LBR and mould codes as
required by Indonesian law.
In addition, it was discovered that the plant
owners had failed to register a number of
the replication lines, also a legal requirement, and that a substance had been
placed on the mould surfaces to prevent the
transfer of SID codes to optical discs.
Preliminary examination of the production
records revealed that the plant was replicating in excess of 110,000 discs per day.
MALAYSIAN POLICE RAID ILLEGAL DISC PLANTS
The Royal Malaysian Police, working with music industry anti-piracy operatives, acted on information from a source and moved against the first suspected illegal facility in Kluang, Johor
province on 20th November. The raid netted three replication lines and more than 6,000
infringing discs.
A review of evidence recovered from the first facility led to the location of a second suspected
illegal factory in the same town. The police subsequently raided this optical disc plant and
located a further two replication machines with several hundred infringing discs.
The Royal Malaysian Police then passed the investigation and exhibits to the Ministry of
Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) which, together with industry investigators,
identified a third related suspected illegal replication plant. When the authorities approached
this optical disc plant they discovered the owners attempting to remove a sixth replication line
in a heavy goods vehicle. This replication line was also seized.
The authorities and industry operatives continue to investigate the syndicate, their activities
and the individuals involved.
On conclusion of the raid, six employees
were arrested and, according to the police
commander at the scene, are likely to face
prosecution.
The authorities have subsequently decommissioned all seven pressing lines and
removed all production records for examination.
As a follow up to the raid, a goods vehicle,
later discovered to have been used by the
factory for the delivery of pirate discs to the
local market place, was recovered and
found to contain in excess of 40,000 pirate
discs.
IFPI South East Asia/Pacific anti-piracy
operatives are now actively helping the
authorities with stamper reading and examining production records to ascertain the
exact quantities and titles of music product
produced.
Bob Youill Regional Coordinator said, "The
Indonesian authorities have disrupted a
major producer of pirate product. We thank
them wholeheartedly for their excellent
work".
EB 35/JAN 08
Production line seized by Malaysian authorities
Source: IFPI Asia Pacific
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Regional news
Asia Pacific
Australia
Pirate Croatian CDs seized in Melbourne
Victorian Police seized approximately 5,000 burnt Croatian CDs and extensive computer
burning equipment in a raid on the home of a prolific trader of Croatian pirate music in the
Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham.
The raid, which took place in August, was assisted by Music Industry Piracy Investigations
(MIPI).
The pirate trader first came to MIPI's attention when selling burnt Croatian music in church
grounds at Keysborough, Clifton Hill and Ardeer in Melbourne to unsuspecting consumers.
Enquiries over the course of six months led MIPI investigators to the home of a woman from
where it is understood that large quantities of pirate CDs were being manufactured and
distributed for sale.
The CDs featured unauthorised recordings of popular Croatian artists including Thompson,
Matko Jelavic and Zlatko Pejakovic. It is expected that criminal charges will be laid against
the pirate trader.
Sabiene Heindl, General Manager of MIPI says: "The music industry is committed to
protecting the copyright of artists and songwriters whether they are based in Australia or
overseas. Traders who deliberately burn music and sell it to unsuspecting customers are not
only deceiving consumers but they are taking food off the table of artists and songwriters that
devote their life to creating music."
Pirated DVDs seized and web sites shut down
in joint operation
Australia
Police raid another
pirate seller of
Croatian Music
Following a huge haul of pirate Croatian
CDs in August, Victorian Police raided the
home of another large scale pirate Croatian
music seller at Taylors Lakes, Melbourne.
MIPI assisted the Keilor Downs Criminal
Investigation Unit seize over 3,000 pirate
Croatian CDs, blank media and extensive
computer burning and printing equipment
during the November raid. Customer order
lists were also seized.
Following widespread media attention of the
raids in Cheltenham, MIPI received a large
number of piracy reports from the general
public pointing to the pirate seller at Taylor
Lakes. The man was allegedly manufacturing pirate discs in a purpose- built area in
his home and selling them at local church
markets and through customised orders.
Victorian police raided the South East Melbourne residence of a 30 year-old man in August,
seizing more than 2,000 pirated DVDs and computer equipment allegedly used to manufacture illegal optical discs.
The man had allegedly been operating several web sites hosted out of the USA and Germany,
offering pirated music videos, movies and computer games to customers in Australia and overseas with the claim they were "original items".
The raid followed a lengthy joint investigation by MIPI and the Australian Federation Against
Copyright Theft (AFACT).
Asian music and film importer raided in Sydney
New South Wales Police, supported by investigators from MIPI and Verifact investigators
representing KCAB Korean Movies, raided the premises of Success Audio and Video of
Anzac Parade, Kingsford in Sydney. Thousands of high quality counterfeit CDs and DVDs
imported from Asia were seized in the October raid.
The counterfeit CDs were being sold to unsuspecting customers for $10 each and included
Western titles from Nora Jones, Robbie Williams, David Bowie, Avril Lavigne, the Backstreet
Boys and Michael Jackson. Asian movie and music titles were also seized. The raid followed separate investigations by MIPI and its Asian affiliate, IFPI in Hong Kong and by
Verifact on behalf of KCAB Korean Movies.
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Extensive foreign works seized by police
Source: MIPI
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Regional news
Asia Pacific
INDONESIA
MALAYSIA
Raids on digital download outlets
IFPI Asia Pacific has been investigating the spread across Jakarta of illegal digital download
outlets which specialise in selling unauthorised music files for storage and use on mobile
phones and other digital devices.
In addition to the more prevalent simple illegal downloading businesses, that are commonplace in a large number of Indonesian shopping malls, the investigation identified sophisticated illegal operations, offering franchises to smaller vendors.
IFPI targeted two such operations and presented an evidence package to the authorities.
Consequently, the authorities raided eight locations in Jakarta allegedly linked to the two illegal download operations, including a main office where business records were held.
During the November raids law enforcement officers seized more than 60 computers, each
holding an average of 28,000 illegal music files, and arrested the principle operator of the business.
Source: IFPI Asia Pacific
MALAYSIA
'Red Dragon' Malaysian Factory raid
Investigators have tracked down and raided the Malaysian manufacturing plant alleged to
have produced high quality counterfeit discs marked with the pirate logo 'Red Dragon'.
The IFPI Asia Pacific Regional Anti-Piracy Team has long targeted the syndicate behind the
'Red Dragon' brand. The syndicate's discs have been recovered in numerous parts of the
world including, the UK, US, Middle East and South East Asia.
During the lengthy and complex investigation into the organisation, there have been numerous large seizures of pirate discs, but until recently the 'Red Dragon's' manufacturing centre
remained hidden.
The industry's Malaysian investigators (RIM) achieved a breakthrough when intelligence was
received about the location of a suspected unregistered replication facility in Kuala Lumpur.
After several days of surveillance, a raid took place on the 25th October, resulting in the dis-
covery of a covert replication plant. Inside the facility, which was concealed in a non-descript
industrial building, guarded by high tech surveillance equipment, the raiding team located a
fully functioning optical disc replication line, together with numerous 'Red Dragon' audio discs,
including titles by Evanescence, Bon Jovi and Good Charlotte. A large number of 'Red
Dragon' stampers, silk screens and production orders were also recovered.
The owner of the manufacturing plant is now being sought by the authorities.
Source: IFPI Asia Pacific
Typical ‘Red Dragon’ product and enlarged logo
EB 34/SEP 07
Discs seized in hunt
for Pirate plant
The IFPI South East Asia Operations Team
has been working with music industry investigators in Malaysia and the Philippines to
locate an underground mastering facility.
The facility is believed to be based in
Malaysia but has distribution links to the
Philippines.
As a result of the ongoing investigation,
information was cultivated regarding a location in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia that was
used as an "off-site" storage facility for the
mastering facility.
A complaint was subsequently made to the
Malaysian authorities and in September
2007, the authorities raided the premises.
Inside, they recovered 2,500 infringing
music stampers and 151,000 pirate music
discs, embodied with both local and international repertoire. The product was destined
for the Malaysian and other Asian markets.
IFPI regional operatives are working with
the authorities and the Malaysian National
Group to locate the underground mastering
facility and replication line used to manufacture the seized infringing discs.
RUSSIA
Security Service raid
warehouse
Officers from the Federal Security Services
(FSB) in Russia targeted a network of retail
outlets in the cities of Krasnodar and
Novorossiysk in the southern region of
Krasnodasky.
A chain of five retail outlets called "Planeta
Soyuz" and their storage warehouse were
simultaneously raided by officers of the
Federal Security Services on 1st
November. In total, 120,000 pirated
pressed CDs and DVDs containing music
and movies were seized.
The Director and Deputy Director of the
company have been arrested and are currently remanded in custody.
Source: MRO
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News
in brief
TURKEY
People
The Turkish National Group (Mu Yap) test-purchased a pirate CD in July containing music from Serder Ortac, a significant local artist with numerous best selling
albums.
Len Hynds
Plant raid uncovers counterfeit discs
IFPI's specialist forensics team matched the counterfeit disc to a Turkish replication plant in Istanbul. Mu Yap then used this evidence to make a criminal complaint to the authorities.
The plant was raided in September by Turkish police officers, accompanied by Mu
Yap. They recovered 13,000 suspected infringing units, by the popular Turkish
artist Ibrahim Tatlise, together with 2,000 inlays and jewel boxes marked with
Turkish Government banderols.
The Police are liaising with the Ministry of Culture to establish the issuing chain of
the banderols and Mu Yap is assisting with preparation of an evidence file.
RUSSIA
Source: Mu Yap
30,000 RAIDS BY RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES IN ONE WEEK
The Russian Ministry of the Interior (MOI) has announced details of a nationwide series of
actions aimed against music pirates, codenamed 'Operation Counterfeit'. Nearly 30,000
raids formed part of the largest ever such operation by the Russian authorities.
During 'Operation Counterfeit' the MOI targeted the production, storage, distribution and
retail outlets of suspected CD and DVD pirates throughout the Russian Federation.
All divisions and sub-divisions of the Economic Crime Police participated in the actions
between 22nd and 29th October.
A total of 29,670 premises were visited and the authorities seized 3.7 million pirate discs con-
taining film and music repertoire of both international and Russian origin. The estimated
retail value of the recovered product was 147 million roubles (US$6m). In addition, 1,127
criminal cases and 4,270 administrative cases for summary offences were initiated throughout the Russian Federation.
Source: MRO
Enforcement Bulletin update
We would like to remind all recipients of the Bulletin that IFPI will circulate this
Enforcement newsletter via email and will only stock a very limited number of physical copies at its London Office.
EB 35/JAN 08
Arrivals
Departures
Isabelle Drew
Head of Enforcement
(January 2008)
Exec. Administrator
(October 2007)
Michelle Middleton Executive Assistant
(September 2007)
Kelly Stubbs
PPD Administrator
(October 2007)
Jodie Isaac
Analyst
(November 2007)
Diary 2008
14 January
Prague (Training
with IPR Business
Partnership)
30 March - 4 April Interpol Training
(Rome)
Last word...
General anti-piracy enquiries and requests
for information relating to enforcement
issues should be sent to the following
email address:
training@ifpi.org
Information is also available from IFPI’s
website: www.ifpi.org
The next EB will be May 2008.
Contributions / comments are welcomed
and these should be forwarded to the editor no later than 15th April 2008 (see
below for details).
Mailing list enquiries should also be
addressed to the editor.
ENFORCEMENT BULLETIN
This Bulletin is edited by Graham Hagger,
Training Officer @ IFPI Secretariat.
Fax:
email:
+44 20 7878 7990
graham.hagger@ifpi.org
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