| By Rosli Abidin
Yahya
Suppression and other
preventive measures against acts of piracy are very much needed
to help kick-off the local music and film industries, producers
said.
They said that piracy of
intellectual properties must be enforced now - otherwise, local
music and film industries would never take off.
They added film and musical
productions need a lot of capital but they could not compete
with the pirated VCDs and CDs now flooding the market.
"Some of us are trying to
be independent by producing our own VCDs towards sales to the
public, but we could not compete with pirated popular films on
VCDs which are being sold for as cheap as $2.
"Furthermore, if our VCDs
proved to be popular, we would never be able to reimburse our
costs, let alone make profits as they would also be subjected to
piracy," they said.
They added that informants must
be rewarded for tips leading to the seizure of pirated products
but at the moment, sales of pirated VCDs and CDs are conducted
in the open, within the comforts of air-conditioned
establishments.
"Informants alerting
authorities to mass-production of VCDs should be rewarded
because these 'pirates' must have used sophisticated copying
machines," they said.
They said that factories will
be required to declare the quantity they produce as well as the
whereabouts and movements of stocks for prevention of piracy.
Retailers will need permits
that carry the consent of producers, who thereby will be able to
keep tabs on sales, they said.
To ease prevention, monitoring
and suppression, police could be provided with maps of licensed
retailers.
They also proposed for
copyrighted goods to be declared as restricted goods, so
enforcement agencies would be able to arrest offenders
immediately.
"However, reducing prices
may persuade consumers to buy the real thing and fatten the
coffers of producers. But authentic producers will never be able
to match the bargain basement prices offered by pirates if these
resort to a price cutting war to keep alive."
"While consumers might
benefit from such competition, this is not a sustainable answer
to piracy. The other side of the coin is to encourage
invention," they said, adding that whatever the reasons
given by dealers of pirate products, piracy of intellectual
properties is still daylight robbery.
Rather than limiting efforts to
production and trade, state and private organisations should
also try to change consumer habits - by persuading consumers to
buy less and borrow more.
"This will be difficult
and time-consuming because the urge to acquire and possess is
basic to us all, but none of us should be beyond persuasion.
"It would also require for
an investment in an efficient library system that provides a
thoroughly comprehensive choice which is constantly updated to
keep up with new releases," they said.
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