posted 07-10-2004 08:47 AM                       

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One in four people on the internet have illegally downloaded a film and the problem is set to get worse, said the US movie industry's trade body.

A study released by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) found that film piracy was worse in South Korea, where broadband is commonplace.

The film studios say piracy on the net has cost them billions of dollars. Last year Hollywood's major studios made a record $10.85bn (£5.8bn) at the international box office.

For the study, the MPAA questioned 3,600 internet users who regularly went to the cinema from across the world. It found that a quarter admitted to having downloaded a film from the internet.

The figure for Korea was much higher, with six out of 10 net users downloading movies. More worrying for the film industry, many downloaders said they had cut back on trips to the cinema and were buying fewer DVDs.

The extent of film piracy online looks set to increase as more and more people switch to broadband. The MPAA found that net users would download more films if they could get the movies faster. "The time barrier should be mitigated as broadband penetration increases and compression technology improves to reduce the amount of time it will take to download the average movie," said the MPAA study.

In a bid to combat piracy, the MPAA has launched a global campaign to hammer home the message that piracy is a crime. But it could face an uphill struggle in changing attitudes. The survey found that a fifth of downloaders had no qualms about getting hold of a movie before it was released in the cinema. And a majority said it was OK to download a film once it was available on DVD or video.

The Hollywood studios say piracy is costing them billions, even though box office takings rose by 5% last year. The MPAA has put the increase down to rising ticket prices, while the number of total tickets sold dropped by 5% internationally and by 12% in Europe.

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The world's "biggest bootlegger" who ripped off some of entertainment's biggest names, has been jailed. Mark Purseglove, 33, who pocketed £15m, was sentenced to three and a half years at London's Blackfriars Crown Court on Thursday in connection with the racket.

For at least 11 years he used illicit recordings made by sound engineers and concertgoers to create counterfeit CDs. Oasis, the Beatles, Eminem, Madonna and the Rolling Stones were among the hundreds of artists targeted.

Purseglove, who lived in a £530,000 flat in Chelsea, west London, got professionally printed covers put on his illegal CDs and sold them at music festivals, shops and online with the help of a worldwide business contacts network, the court heard. His crimes funded a luxury lifestyle of designer clothes, expensive cars, homes and holidays.

The discs were sold between December 1991 and June 2002 under record company labels such as Criminal Records, Wanted Man, Masquerade and Not Guilty.

Earlier prosecutor David Groome has told the court Purseglove sold recordings by every well-known artist in the world. He regularly printed off impressive colour catalogues and sent them to clients across the globe. Recordings were made by concert goers and sound engineers, paid to supply unauthorised tapes.

Copies that cost less than a pound to produce were sold for an average of 15 times that amount and 1,500% profits made Purseglove a multi-millionaire. In 1997, the FBI set up a classic sting operation for him and other bootleggers, taking them on an all expenses-paid trip to Disneyland with the promise of as many women as they could handle.

In court he remained emotionless as Judge Timothy Pontius told him it was clear his "large-scale criminal enterprise" had "reaped very considerable financial rewards from the manufacture, importation and sale of illicit CDs".

"This enterprise is by far the largest and therefore the most serious of its particular kind to come before the courts," he said.

The judge said Purseglove had been undeterred by court injunctions and subsequent brushes with the law. A lengthy custodial sentence was required to punish him, prevent further offending and send out a deterrent to others, he said.

An additional five years would have to be served if assets of £1,827,937 were not paid by the end of March next year. Outside court, David Martin, of the British Phonographic Industry's anti-piracy unit, said: "We have been after him for 13 years and he has been a thorn in our side throughout that time. "

Concerts bootlegged by Purseglove:

The Rolling Stones' Voodoo Lounge tour in 1995
David Bowie in Tokyo in 1996
Michael Jackson's Invincible tour in 2001
Prince's Greatest Hits Tour in 2001,
Eric Clapton's Reptile tour in Germany in 2001
Kylie Minogue in Australia in 2001
Madonna's Drowned World tour at London's Earls Court in 2001.

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