Video Dealers Support Anti-piracy Efforts

The Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) today commended the Motion Picture Association of America for launching a public education campaign on the consequences and risks of illegally downloading movies from the Internet.

"Piracy, or more properly theft, is the greatest threat to the home video industry," VSDA President Bo Andersen said. "Because illegal movie downloading and illegal DVD copies have the potential to seriously undermine the legitimate home video market, VSDA supports educating consumers about the impact of this theft on the creative community, the entertainment retail industry, the economy, and the public and the risks to those engaged in this theft."

The MPAA today launched a new phase of its ongoing public education campaign to deter illegal movie downloading. The new phase includes newspaper advertisements, direct outreach to parents, students, and community groups, and in-theater messages. Andersen noted that VSDA would offer to MPAA to carry the education campaign to retail outlets.

VSDA has supported the motion picture industry’s legal efforts to shut down Grokster, Morpheus, and similar file-swapping services, create new laws at the state and federal level to make camcording in motion picture theaters a crime, and provide additional law enforcement and prosecutorial resources to combat copyright infringement.

Established in 1981, the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA) is the not-for-profit international trade association for the $22 billion home entertainment industry. VSDA represents more than 1,200 companies throughout the United States, Canada, and a dozen other countries. Its members operate more than 12,500 retail outlets in the U.S. that sell and/or rent DVDs, VHS cassettes, and console video games. Membership comprises the full spectrum of video retailers (from single-store operators to large chains), video distributors, the home video divisions of major and independent motion picture studios, and other related businesses that constitute and support the home video entertainment industry.

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