A raid a day against film pirates in Feb

The war against film piracy in South Africa was stepped up during February, with several major court successes against pirates, and police, customs officials and the SA movie industry conducting more than one raid every single day during the month, reports the SA Federation against Copyright Theft (Safact), the non-profit body representing the local movie industry.

13 Mar 2005

Successful court actions against pirates included two-record breaking sentences during February:

Mohammed Aboor reached a plea bargain with the State in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court, where the largest fine ever handed down on a counterfeiter was imposed. Aboor was fined R579 840 or two years imprisonment, partially suspended for five years. This resulted from the attempted smuggling into SA of 4000 DVDs in 2004.

Marcus Mocke pleaded guilty in the Johannesburg Commercial Court on the second day of trial, after an initial plea of not guilty, and was fined R400 000 or eight years imprisonment, partially suspended for five years. He was found in possession of 400 pirated DVDs and computer games.

Safact CEO, James Lennox, said seven other significant successful court cases had been concluded against pirates during the month, with fines ranging from R64 000 downwards. "Both the industry and the authorities are sending out a clear message - that piracy will no longer be tolerated in South Africa," said Lennox.

In addition to the court actions, more than 55 000 pirated DVDs were seized in 35 raids, at airports, in stores and businesses and at flea markets and roadside vendors, during February, said Lennox. A further 31 inspections were conducted by Safact, which resulted in 15 vendors voluntarily surrendering illegal product, and 13 warnings being issued.

Inspectors also seized 1571 Playstation games and nearly 100 other pirated games.

"The war is on. We will continue to fight the crime of piracy on every front," said Lennox.