Operators making and selling pirate copies of movies

Chief Censor Alfred Morris is going public with his concerns that there are ‘too many pirated movies on the market’ and he has the evidence. Morris told the Times on Thursday his office was alerted to the problem by a New Zealand customs officer who was on holiday in Rarotonga and went to hire some videos and discovered the pirate copies of popular movies.
Titles included Avatar, Ocean Blue, 2012, Marine, Invictus and Smoking Acres and brought the pirate copies to his office. The operators were confronted by Morris and his assistant, Dennis Tangirere and all their stock of pirated copies were confiscated and handed over as evidence to the police for further investigation with the view to prosecution.
The Chief Censor has also found another disturbing trend whereby some operators, are even putting fake stickers on the covers of the pirated copies which give the impression that the copies have been officially authorized by his office (which of course is not so).
Morris showed the Times the fake stickers compared to the genuine article and it would be difficult for a member of the public to tell the difference, so could easily be fooled into thinking it was the genuine article.
He said that Harry Napa, the owner of the Empire Theatre was very concerned with the fact that operators are continuing to copy and sell pirated movies despite the international outcry against stealing the intellectual property of another and seeking to profit from it.
If there were a successful prosecution and operators found guilty in a court of law, the operators could be liable to fines of up to $5000 under the provisions of the Film Amendment Act 2008, up from maximum fines of $500 under the original legislation. The operators have even admitted their culpability and said they had ‘no excuse’ for their behaviour, so what is causing the delay?
Morris is disappointed that three months down the track, there has been no feedback from the police other than ‘we are still working on it’. He is concerned the problem is being ‘pushed under the carpet’ and that the police are not taking the issue seriously enough. Incidentally, the Times has found that the USA has introduced even tougher penalties of up to 3 years in jail for similar offences.
In the meantime, the chief witness for the prosecution – the NZ customs officer – has left the island and Morris fears that will be the end of that for lack of a witness.
On Thursday the Times asked Police Commissioner, Maara Tetava for comment. He said he had delegated the matter to the Superintendent. The Superintendent was unable to be contacted on Friday as he was off duty having worked through the night due to the Cyclone Nisha alert.