Counterfeit designer hats off to you, Melbourne. The Motion Picture Association Of America have released a report into the state of piracy both online and offline, and have pointed out that we’re staying pretty close to our convict roots in the age of digital media piracy, naming Melbourne’s Caribbean Gardens and Market as one of the “Notorious Physical Markets” that “offer consumers burned or pressed infringing optical discs”, ranking it alongside sales districts in the Ukraine, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Russia and Mexico as one of the worst (best?) places to get your hands on an illegal copies of TV shows, movies and music. The report notes the problems with physical sales being tied to organised crime syndicates, proving that there is still money being made by gangsters who will burn you a DVD you can’t refuse.
The MPAA report describes the Caribbean Gardens & Markets in Scoresby as “Australia’s largest undercover market at over 10,000 sqm, operating every Wednesday and Sunday. There are between 10-20 individual market sellers offering counterfeit Region 1 & 2 DVDs, together with other sellers offering burnt DVDs of recently released titles. The total number of sellers, while substantially reduced from mid- 2000s, has increased recently due to a lack of enforcement.”
The report claims that “State and federal police have shown no interest in enforcing the issue despite multiple entreaties from right holders,” however the ABC reports that “the Australian Federal Police says only one complaint has been received about sellers at the markets in the past two years.” Everyone’s clearly too busy watching torrented episodes of Homeland to do anything about it.
The naming and shaming of the pirates of the Caribbean Markets comes in the wake of sticky fingered Australians being named the worst in worldwide illegal downloads more than once.
Via abc.net.au
