Battle Against CD Piracy Continues in Luxembourg, China

Brussels, Belgium. In the continuing crackdown on illicit international trade in pirated CD’s, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) has accused Luxembourg of failing to enforce international copyright law.

Reuters reported yesterday that IFPI has asked the European Commission to take legal proceedings against Luxembourg for failing to intervene in the bootleg traffic of CD’s across its borders.

The IFPI claims that over one million bootleg CD’s enter the European Union through Luxembourg each year. IFPI estimates that pirate CD trade costs the music industry some $2.1 billion a year, 20 percent of it in the EU. Most of the illegal CDs entering Europe come from Israel, the Czech Republic and the Far East.

Luxembourg responded to IFPI’s charges by saying that its reputation as a conduit for bootleg CD’s is unfounded. And the head of intellectual property rights at Luxembourg’s economics ministry said the nation plans to enact new laws later this year to bring Luxembourg in line with the rest of the European Union.

According to IFPI, there are two areas where Luxembourg has allowed copyright violation to flourish: direct bootlegs and “back catalogues.” “Back catalogue” production involves CDs of music first recorded less than 50 years ago. Copyright enters the public domain after 50 years in most European nations, but in Luxembourg the period is 30 years.

This means that some of the strongest selling material of the 1950’s and 1960’s, including recordings by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley, are being pressed by manufacturers outside Europe, and entering the EU through Luxembourg.

Beijing, China. Meanwhile, the high-profile piracy battle in China rages on. 400 audio and video industry representatives in Beijing have promised to fight copyright piracy by manufacturing and distributing only legally copyrighted products, according to a report in the China Daily (an official newspaper) on Tuesday.

The report quoted China’s Vice-Minister of Culture Li Yuanchao saying, “the first important barometer is that the ratio of copyrighted products in the market has been improved.” He was referring to pressure brought to bear on China by U.S. and other international interests in June of this year.

However, pirated CD’s and CD-ROM’s are still widely available from street vendors in Beijing.