Avoiding the Chance of Illegal and Pirated DVDs

In the greater Toronto area an organization known as the Peel Regional Police Service conducted an investigation into the sale and distribution of priated DVBD movies. On Sunday August 19, 2007, the execution of multiple search warrants was coordinated within the cities of Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga. Twenty-five arrests were made, which led to over seventy criminal charges. More than 40,000 pirated DVD movies and an assortment of printing and stamping equipment was siezed.

If you have a proprietary DVD -- a film, music, or even an exercize DVD -- there are companies like Livermore, California-based Acutrack, Inc. that can help you protect yourself. Established in 1992, Acutrack (http://www.acutrack.com/) enables customers to create, publish and deliver custom content on CDs and DVDs worldwide. The company provides fast, high-quality CD and DVD production including video editing, DVD authoring, graphic design, photo realistic and silkscreen printing, and a variety of packaging, copy protection and fulfillment services. Acutrack’s proprietary On Demand production service gives customers the ability to produce and ship custom packaged CD covers or DVDs one at a time.

In another top news item in July (Reuters) we learn that most of the production lines for pirated DVDs are smuggled into China, and once in the country are hard to find as the factories are carefully hidden. China's failure to protect intellectual property rights for everything from movies to handbags and car parts has been a major irritant in Sino-U.S. and Sino-European relations despite Beijing's pledges to crack down.

Foreign companies say they loose billions of dollars to Chinese pirates every year. Pirated DVDs of the latest Hollywood films are easily obtainable in Chinese cities, often costing little more than $1 a piece.