Mumbai: Acting on information provided by Taiwan Foundation Against Copyrights Theft (TFACT), representing the Motion Picture Association (MPA) in Taiwan, Taiwan IPR Police raided a rental shop in Tainan city, seizing a total of 174 DVD-R burners and 7,414 pirated optical discs. They also arrested the woman shop owner.
Investigations reveal that the lab is a major supplier of pirated discs to street vendors throughout Taiwan city. It is estimated that the seized burners had a production capacity of 9.4 million pirated discs, potentially generating criminal revenues of nearly $3 million a year. Among the discs seized were MPA titles including Bee Movie, I Am Legend and Ratatouille.
"This is a significant result and we congratulate the Taiwanese authorities for hitting the pirates where it hurts most," said Motion Picture Association president and managing director Mike Ellis. "This effort underscores the effectiveness of the cooperation between the IPR Police and our industry. These burner labs are an increasing threat. In 2007, we assisted in the seizure of 974 DVD-R burners, an increase of 33% from the seizures made in 2006. By taking these burners off the streets, we are protecting the livelihoods of the many people who work in the movie industry."
