Copyright infringement of audio-visual works
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Copyright infringement of audio-visual works, often referred to as "piracy", occurs when unauthorized copies are made of music, movies and similar works. Incidence of copyright infringment has grown dramatically since the late 1970s, as technology has facilitated the unauthorized duplication of copyrighted works. Unauthorized copies of original CDs, DVDs and other media are sold for very low prices around the world.
Early entertainment piracy surged after the advent of the VHS home video equipment. Initially, pirates would use hand-held video cameras to surrepticiously record movies shown at theaters. Owners of video stores would purchase the home-made recordings of popular movies and offer them for sale before the film's official release-to-video date.#redirect
In 1985, more than 1,000 illegal copies of Rambo were found in Puerto Rico alone.#redirect "Rambo: First Blood part 2" represents one of the most illegally copied movies in history.#redirect
In the 1990s, music CDs piracy began and became an international phenomenon, especially in Asia and Latin America. It is estimated that over 100 million CDs have been illegally reproduced for selling.#redirect In the case of music CDs case, it is much more difficult to catch pirates. Illegal copies are unlikely to be found at retail stores; the pirates instead sell copies at on-street markets for as low as one dollar.#redirect
CD piracy affects the Mexican music market greatly, to the extent that some music groups and singers announce their latest releases on television along with messages to avoid piracy. #redirect The Argentine and Puerto Rican music industries have been affected as well, and the phrase "say know to piracy" has become a common one among Spanish speaking countries. #redirect
Mexican singers, in hopes to turn fans off from buying illegal CD copies, have begun to check CDs before autographing them.#redirect Sure tell signs of an illegal copy of a CD are, for example, a blank page directly under the CDs cover. Most legal CDs include photos, messages, or songs lists. Cristian Castro is one of the most famous singers in Mexico who checks CDs before signing them.#redirect Singers who check their CDs before signing them, usually sign them if they are legal CDs, but they would refuse to sign pirated copies. Los Tucanes de Tijuana, a ranchera music group from northern Mexico, is the exception: they told a magazine that they sign all CDs fans ask them to sign, on the understanding that some of their fans are so poor that they can only afford illegal copies of their work, but most stars, such as Pepe Aguilar and multiple others, have publicly protested the practice.#redirect
In 2004, the movie, "The Passion of the Christ", brought film piracy back into the public eye, as millions of illegal copies of this movie were found around the world.#redirect
Countries around the world have different laws to apply to music and film pirates. Some found guilty face either fines of varying degrees, and in very few cases can see jail. In other coutries still, pirates are simply not prosecuted, either due to privacy laws taking precedence over economic interests of copyright, or due to overburdening of the judicial system.
However, not everybody sees copyright infringement as a problem. Some see it as a natural evolution of society in conjunction with the rise of the internet, which fundamentally changes the way society operates. Where this article up to this point has largely described the views of the pre-Internet media industry, there are other views. Most of these views claim that, while piracy is bad for the pre-internet media distribution corporations, it benefits the artists.
The people with these views tend to regard legality or illegality of a duplication as irrelevant, believing the law hasn't kept up with the technological progress, and instead focus on the benefit of the artist and consumer.
As an example, several pro-piracy interest groups have sprung up, particularly in Europe and Latin America. These groups focus on piracy operations without commercial interests, usually so-called file sharing.
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