Canada heavily promotes itself as a place to make films. But now it has a more dubious distinction: an analysis by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has found that 30 percent to 40 percent of the bootleg DVDs sold in the US were made by camcorders smuggled into Canadian theaters.
In response, 20th Century Fox Film is considering holding back film releases for the Canadian market, and the film industry in general is calling for stricter Canadian laws. One theater chain has even equipped some of its staff with night-vision goggles to better ferret out copiers.
The apparent rise of Canada's illegal film industry stems from several factors. Tighter federal and state laws in the US covering film piracy have not been matched by similar legislation in Canada. And because most film releases are simultaneous in Canada and the US, Canadian pirates get a head start.
And even industry officials acknowledge that Canadian pirates offer technically superior work.
"There are professional Canadian camcord rings and they are very, very good at what they do," said John Malcolm, director of worldwide anti-piracy operations for the MPAA in Los Angeles. "There is a premium placed on getting early copies and high-quality copies. Everyone in the industry knows that camcording in Canada is a major, major problem."
The industry's estimate of how many black market DVDs originate from Canadian multiplexes is not simply a guess. In many release prints, almost unnoticeable identification marks are scattered throughout random frames.
On the studios' behalf, Technicolor and Deluxe Laboratories, the leading producers of those prints, regularly analyze illicit DVDs as well as online film postings, uncover the identification codes and then use them to trace copies back to the theater where they were taped.
In Canada, that trail usually leads to theaters in the Montreal area, which is estimated to be the source of three-quarters of the illicit copies that come from the country.
In the US, federal law as well as 40 state laws can impose harsh penalties for videotaping movies from theater screens, a process known as camming. In Canada, however, it violates copyright laws only if the police can show in court that the camera operator intended to commercially distribute copies of the recording.
"It's very hard for us to prove that a person is actually doing that," said Ellis Jacob, president of Cineplex Entertainment, Canada's top theater chain. "All we can do is get rid of the patron and ask them not to come back."
Like everyone in the Canadian theater business, Jacob has received two letters from Bruce Snyder, the president of domestic distribution for Fox (all studios treat Canada as part of the US market). The messages were blunt. Describing the situation in Canada as "an out of control epidemic," Snyder warned the theater owners that Fox may delay Canadian releases by several weeks.
In an interview, Snyder said he had no complaints about companies like Cineplex, which are, after all, his customers.
"I am not mad at the exhibition community," Snyder said. "The exhibitors are doing everything they can to help us."
Like Jacob, his concerns are with law and law enforcement.
Canada accounts for about 7 percent to 10 percent of a film's total North American revenue. The spillover effect of movie coverage by US television and publications would be diminished if Snyder delayed the Canadian releases.
"It's a drastic step," Snyder said. "But you've got to plug that hole somehow. It could be short-term damage for long-term benefit."
Cineplex has supplied theater managers with night-vision goggles and increased surveillance of theaters, particularly during afternoon screenings. After an extensive investigation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested one Montreal man in September for taping movies. Working with the FBI, Canadian police have traced his handiwork to black-market DVDs sold in New York.
Because prosecutors are still working out charges, the man cannot be identified. Sergeant Jean-Yves Ducharme of the Mounted Police in Montreal said the man is less than 30 years old and "a person who did not make a lot of money out of it."
The suspect, he added, was a computer enthusiast who appeared to be motivated by producing high-quality copies and distributing them as close to a film's release as possible.
Christian Girouard, a spokesman for Canada's justice department, said officials were discussing the situation with the industry and other government departments. He said he was unable to describe what, if any, measures might be taken.
On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump weighed in on a pressing national issue: The rebranding of a restaurant chain. Last week, Cracker Barrel, a Tennessee company whose nationwide locations lean heavily on a cozy, old-timey aesthetic — “rocking chairs on the porch, a warm fire in the hearth, peg games on the table” — announced it was updating its logo. Uncle Herschel, the man who once appeared next to the letters with a barrel, was gone. It sparked ire on the right, with Donald Trump Jr leading a charge against the rebranding: “WTF is wrong with Cracker Barrel?!” Later, Trump Sr weighed
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) secured a record 70.2 percent share of the global foundry business in the second quarter, up from 67.6 percent the previous quarter, and continued widening its lead over second-placed Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Monday. TSMC posted US$30.24 billion in sales in the April-to-June period, up 18.5 percent from the previous quarter, driven by major smartphone customers entering their ramp-up cycle and robust demand for artificial intelligence chips, laptops and PCs, which boosted wafer shipments and average selling prices, TrendForce said in a report. Samsung’s sales also grew in the second quarter, up
HEADWINDS: Upfront investment is unavoidable in the merger, but cost savings would materialize over time, TS Financial Holding Co president Welch Lin said TS Financial Holding Co (台新新光金控) said it would take about two years before the benefits of its merger with Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控) become evident, as the group prioritizes the consolidation of its major subsidiaries. “The group’s priority is to complete the consolidation of different subsidiaries,” Welch Lin (林維俊), president of the nation’s fourth-largest financial conglomerate by assets, told reporters during its first earnings briefing since the merger took effect on July 24. The asset management units are scheduled to merge in November, followed by life insurance in January next year and securities operations in April, Lin said. Banking integration,
LOOPHOLES: The move is to end a break that was aiding foreign producers without any similar benefit for US manufacturers, the US Department of Commerce said US President Donald Trump’s administration would make it harder for Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc to ship critical equipment to their chipmaking operations in China, dealing a potential blow to the companies’ production in the world’s largest semiconductor market. The US Department of Commerce in a notice published on Friday said that it was revoking waivers for Samsung and SK Hynix to use US technologies in their Chinese operations. The companies had been operating in China under regulations that allow them to import chipmaking equipment without applying for a new license each time. The move would revise what is known
RSS