Govt told to tackle camcorder film piracy

The government must introduce clearer legislation to stop copyright pirates from using camcorders to record films at the cinema, a House of Lords report has claimed.

Published today, Lord Fowler's communications committee report on the British film and television industries says that not enough is being done to combat piracy of new films during cinema screenings.

The report notes that the market exists due to the time lag between a film's cinema release and its availability on official DVDs for rental or sale. However, the committee also revealed its "surprise" at the high quality of many illicitly-produced copies.

Timothy Richards, from cinema group Vue Entertainment, told Lord Fowler that this type of piracy is a "sophisticated, organised crime" using complex technology.

He said that governments in the US, Canada, Australia and parts of Europe have all passed legislation over the past ten years to prevent filming in cinemas, which has pushed the problem over to the UK.

Cinema Exhibitors' Association representative Phil Clapp claimed that the government considers the Fraud Act 2006 as being sufficient to deal with the piracy, but there are "manifold" difficulties with such an approach.

"I have sat in several meetings with government lawyers where there has been a disagreement among them as to whether it is applicable," Clapp said.

"On a cold Friday night in the Cardiff Cineworld, a policeman turning up is hardly likely to be equipped to understand whether or not something is an offence."

In response, Lord Fowler's report calls on the government to introduce more coherent legislation to address the problem before it becomes too widespread.

"We remain concerned that the law is unclear and provides insufficient deterrent to abuse," the report said.

"We recommend that the government reconsider the case for specific legislation to make it a criminal offence to record a film in a cinema by camcorder."

However, the committee has backed the government on its plans to tackle illegal peer-to-peer file-sharing, which Lord Fowler acknowledges as a major problem facing both film and TV industries.

The committee fully supports the digital economy bill proposal to give Ofcom the power to suspend connections of targeted copyright infringers who do not respond to warning letters.

Tim Bevan, from independent production firm Working Title, said that sales of DVDs are tumbling around the world because of internet piracy.

"If we do not do something about that... then the creative industries broadly are in huge trouble," he claimed. "Right now there is a hole in the bottom of the bucket and we need to do something about it."

However, Bevan acknowledged that it is important for the industry to develop "a business model that makes films available on the internet at a reasonable price".

Welcoming the report's recommendations, British Video Association director general Lavinia Carey said: "The Lords Communications Committee is right to highlight the threat that copyright theft poses to Britain’s audio-visual industry.

"Last year a report by Oxford Economics found that outlawing camcording in cinemas, regulating car boot sales, creating an effective damages regime and introducing legislation to tackle illegal file-sharing would boost the output of our economy by £614 million.

She added: "Not only that, these simple measures would create 6,900 jobs and generate £155m for the Exchequer from the audio-visual sector alone. Given the current economic climate these measures, taken together, would be a quick win.

"Through the digital economy bill the government is proposing action to reduce illegal online activity, which is more akin to looting than 'sharing', but the committee is right to conclude that there is more the government could do."