Film piracy

According to the findings of a study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the most serious form of film piracy is still "bootlegging", which the association defines as buying illegally copied discs or acquiring hard copies of bootleg movies. MPAA estimates that its member companies lost US$2.4 billion in revenue to "bootlegging" in 2005.

Just behind, however, was lost revenue due to "Internet piracy" (illegal downloading of films), which amounted to US$2.3 billion. With the increasing availability and affordability of broadband Internet, this component of film piracy looks set to rise exponentially and is likely to surpass "bootlegging" very soon.

The third form of film piracy is "illegal copying", which is making or receiving illegal copying of legitimate discs (US$ 1.4 billion).



The countries where piracy is most prevalent as a percentage of the marketplace are China, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Thailand and Mexico. MPAA estimates that the percentage of potential market lost due to piracy in China was a whopping 93%.

The study results show that the average offender is a young urban male 16-24 years of age. "College students in the US, Korea and Hungary contribute the most to each country’s individual loss. The 16-24 age range represents a disproportionately high percentage of pirates, especially downloaders, across the 22 directly researched countries. It is even higher in the US, where the same age range represents 71% of downloaders."

For more detailed findings, click here.