Huge bogus DVD bust
2005-01-19 12:03
Johannesburg - The anti-piracy group, the
Southern African Federation Against Copyright (SAFACT) announced on
Wednesday that customs officials at Johannesburg International Airport had
intercepted two consignments of counterfeit goods on December 29.
SAFACT MD Fred Potgieter said the fake goods, emanating from a flight
from Dubai, were worth a total of R6m.
"Customs officials intercepted two consignments - one at Lufthansa cargo
and one at SAA (South African Airways) cargo. Both consignments were flown
in from Dubai. The one consignment contained 9 520 counterfeit DVDs and the
other a total of 14 310 DVDs," he added.
"The majority of the DVDs ... were multi-titled, meaning the potential
damage to the industry, if they entered the marketplace, would have been
larger than normal.
"
This is a new problem we are facing - the counterfeiting of multi-title disks. This means, that, in affect, the value of the seized
goods was actually potentially worth a lot more than R6m."
SAFACT is a non-profit organisation which represents Ster Kinekor, Nu
Metro, Nintendo and all the major US film studios.