Don’t get ripped off this Christmas – tips to identify pirated material

At the height of Christmas shopping season, Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) urge consumers to be vigilant when buying music and movies from market stalls and some retailers.

Don’t get ripped off this Christmas. Here are some tips in identifying pirated material:

• The back of a legitimate disc is likely to be silver, however a burnt CD/DVD will be on a CD-R or DVD-R with a blue, green or gold back;

• The back centre hole of a legitimate CD/DVD carries the manufacturer’s identification number and bar code hologram, whereas a burnt CD-R/DVD-R may be labelled as a CD-R or DVD-R;

• The packaging of pirated CDs/DVDs can often be an indication – look for spelling mistakes, poor quality, and colour distortion;

• Music from countries like China, Indonesia and other Asian or South American countries should be treated suspiciously – China has 85% piracy rates and Indonesia 87% piracy rates for music;

• An excessive number of tracks on a CD can be an indication that it is pirate product, particularly for karaoke and ring tones;

• Be careful when buying live performance CDs or DVDs – many of these are illegal “bootleg” copies of poor quality;

• Probably the best indicator of an illegitimate product is its price. Use your judgment to ascertain whether the price is a reasonable one or not; and

• High-quality counterfeits that look and feel like the real thing are often very difficult to detect. If in doubt, contact MIPI or AFACT.

Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) is the anti-piracy organisation for the Australian music industry. MIPI represents close to 125 music labels through their association, ARIA and over 1,700 music publishers and songwriters through their association, AMCOS.

MIPI operates a free-call anti-piracy hotline at 1800 06 16 16 or visit www.mipi.com.au

AFACT acts on behalf of the 50,000 Australians directly impacted by copyright theft including independent cinemas, video rental stores and film and television producers across the country. AFACT works closely with industry, government, police and educational institutions to address copyright theft, and to protect the interests of the film and television industry.

AFACT operates an anti-piracy hotline: 1800 251 996 or visit www.afact.com.au