DVD Pirates Building Brand Name Recognition

from the the-way-of-the-world dept

While many people still associate pirated DVD movies from Asia with bad video camera recordings (complete with the heads of other attendees and their coughing) it appears that one DVD piracy operation in Asia has built up a brand name around the quality of their product. As the John C. Dvorak article points out, this is professional piracy - not some kids stamping out copied discs using a DVD-burner. However, folks who see the "DVD-9" label, apparently know they're going to get a quality product. The DVDs include the typical extras as well, such as commentary and cut scenes - and they come out before the actual DVD is released. All of this is further proof that the real culprit for movies getting out there is movie industry insiders rather than folks at home. According to the article, the DVD-9 brand is so popular that other pirates try to stick DVD-9 labels on their own, inferior, products. Think the DVD-9 folks can sue for trademark infringement? Since Dvorak assumes that DVD-9 is backed by organized crime, I'd imagine that other methods will be used to crack down on that practice. In the meantime, Dvorak also mentions that copied software is (as always) available for next to nothing - and he believes that Microsoft is letting it happen, because if they cracked down, users would shift to Linux in a heartbeat.