On Friday over a million bootlegged CDs and DVDs were destroyed in Rabat. The pirated copies had been seized in a recent series of raids and it is estimated that the value was around 10 million dirhams (1.18 million USD). The haul included audio CDS, computer programmes as well as foreign and Moroccan movies.This operation was carried out, under the national campaign against piracy in coordination with the Moroccan office of royalties (BMDA), the Moroccan cinematographic centre (CCM) and the ministry of communication.
This "large-scale" operation, based on rulings issued by the Moroccan courts, is the first of its kind in Rabat, said CMDA managing director, Abdellah Ouadghiri.Morocco's campaign against piracy is based on promoting the culture of respect for copyrights, ensuring coordination between departments concerned, and carrying out sting operations to clamp down on bootlegging.
While a million CDs and DVDs sounds like a like quantity, it is a drop in the ocean compared with the number of bootlegged CDs on the market. It will be interesting to see if the authorities go after those responsible for large scale copying, rather than those on the street who are simply trying to make a living. The people at the top of the pirating chain are making vast amounts from this trade and so they should be the target of future actions.
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
9 comments:
That sounds pretty pointless. I don't know a single retailer in Fes selling non-pirated CD's/DVD's so it's not like the copies are stealing trade. Even Marjane the biggest supermarket sells copied CD's rather than originals.
Great, let's take away movies from Moroccans. Cinemas are dirty and smelly (and sparse), no real DVDs are sold (and if they were they'd be out of price range). Just another initiative to suck up to the EU....
Does ANYBODY in Morocco buy original CDs, DVDs, software, movies, whatever? It's virtually unheard of - wrong as copyright infringement may be. The real question is, Why are the authorities after the vendors who barely feed their families? It's all an act. If change is to be made, then it needs to start at the top. The ethics on the street are simply a by-product of TPTB.
saddenly, actually. people who own these kinds of shops feed their families by selling these things.
Without retail dealers, there would be no wholesalers neither.
V. Interesting debate. Of course, it's pathetic that the Moroccan police are chasing the most vulnerable members of the DVD resale chain. But that's what police do everywhere. I have to admit to buying plenty of these DVDs myself (though 1/2 of them don't work or don't have English-language soundtracks so I don't watch them), most of the time when I buy films this way it's just to put some money into the system rather than to obtain value. Jillian's remark is interesting. On the other hand one must ask. Who really profits from this system? At some point the country must modernise and protecting Intellectual Property is part of that process. Morocco could have a viable movie industry of its own one day. Secondly, as for "sucking up to the EU". Yes it's sad that that is what the govt. here do often to the expense of the poorest members of society, but who else can the govt. "suck up" to? The only safe border Morocco has is with the sea! It's hardly like the country has a host of options to choose from. The "go it alone" option just won't work. My 2 cents worth!
PeadarOParis
This black market has quite some ethical standards. Rumor goes that Moroccan movies are off limits and are not copied and distributed at 10 Dhs a pop.
The piracy has destroyed movie theaters but then again the pricing is just not in line with a poor country's income structure. How can one afford, let alone justify, paying 50 Dhs for a movie ticket?
whenever I go down to the PiratesRUs in the medina, I always meet with the supposedly ethical westeners that buy DVDs by the dozen.
WII games and PC games are 10 Dhs a DVD.
There is just no market for Video games that cost 50 Euros in France, 120 CHF in Switzerland, and $50 in the US.
There is no market for movies that cost $14 in the US or 20 Euros in France.
What is interesting is that most folks have pirated Sat receivers and therefore have enough brainwashing entertainment to watch at home.
it's about time that country is doing something about this.
It is sad that most people still don't see or get the negative effects of piracy on their lives; no movie theater to go to, threat to lose the movie studios revenue, and a floundering arts...it is like saying that it's Ok for people to mug and break into other peoples house because they are poor...no one has the right to steal other people's property, period.
it's like anything else, the more people go to the theater the cheaper the tickets will get, the more people buy original CDs the cheaper they will get, we just need to create LEGAL market where people have an incentive compete fair and square.
It is interesting that out of this discussion people only seem to talk of the authorities (bad), the resellers (hard done by) and the consumers (good). No one seems to want to talk about the people who actually come up with the ideas and/or make the stuff that's being pirated. It seems indicative of how little the population thinks of those in the creative arts and the attached industries. Like with most things we all want stuff but don't want to pay for it. Sadly the creative arena is almost the only arena in which we can get away with stealing so easily.
@ jillian, sorry but I will have to disagree with you. I hardly think this entails 'taking' movies away from Moroccans. It is unfortunate that cinemas are dirty, smelly and sparse, but surely that doesn't mean that film makers should have to accept their work being stolen and redistributed as poor quality copies. Further I would have thought that the plethora of satellite dishes would be a sign that many Moroccans are getting their entertainment elsewhere.
While I would agree that DVD's, to say nothing of cinema ticket prices, are ridiculous most of the time, it doesn't follow that buying (or selling) pirated DVDs should be acceptable. There are many things in this world and in Morocco that are expensive and or over priced, and many people choose or are forced to do without them. To be certain movies, music and software are not an entitlement anywhere in the world.
@ Amina & Anonymous - regardless of whether anyone in Morocco does pay for music, movies or software, copyright infringement is against the law and is felt by those that create the things that are pirated whether they be large corporations or individual artists. Too be sure the authorities should be going after those at the top as well as the retailers, but to suggest that because those selling the essentially stolen goods are impoverished and have families to feed is ridiculous.
Would you condone drug dealers and common thieves merely because they have a family to feed? What about the artists, film crews and software engineers whom have families to feed. Is it acceptable to deprive them of there earnings merely because we imagine they must be well off or that because they have worked hard and done well they don't deserve any further compensation for the work they do.
While worrying about the families of the Moroccan pirate DVD resellers, what about the Moroccan musicians and film makers who see there hard work being distributed at extremely low cost and quality with no funds going back to them to feed their families.
Regardless of whether everybody does it we all know that it is wrong, and need to remember that both the creators and the consumers are the ones that suffer. The creators lose income and the consumers get a shitty product all the while some asshole gets rich off the labours of others.
@ H, amusing to hear you speak of the ethical standards of the black marketeers. If the rumour is true, isn't it just a facet of a rampant Occidentalism with it's imagined but skewed understanding of the West, whereby there's one rule for them and another for us (really I don't want to start discussion on this just a quick observation).
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