Movie fans warned about ‘Star Wars’ pirates

Film pirates are preparing to profit from the release of the final ‘Star Wars’ movie, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has warned.

Although the ‘Episode III: Revenge of the Sith’ premiered earlier this week at the Cannes film festival and officially opened in cinemas yesterday, pirate versions of the film have already been discovered in an East London market.

FACT confirmed that the pirate copies were seized in a joint operation with Tower Hamlets Market Services, at a market in Brick Lane last Sunday. 400 inlays for the DVDs were also seized in a separate raid in Woolwich.

According to FACT, the seized DVDs only contained a ten-minute long cut of the film by director George Lucas, but were being sold to customers as being the complete version of the film.

FACT Director of Operations, Jim Angell, said: “The fact that pirates are already making profit from the film shows us that the bad guys are preparing for a mass influx of this product.”

FACT said that with Tower Hamlets authority working together with FACT, Trading Standards and the police, any illegal traders entertain the markets would continue to be confronted. The traders would risk a £5,000 fine and/or six months in prisons for selling pirate DVDs in a magistrates or an unlimited fine and/or up to ten years imprisonment for distributing DVDs in the Crown Court.

A Tower Hamlet Market Services spokesperson said: “Life for the would-be illegal trader in our markets can only get worse, as we are continuing to develop our already successful partnerships with the enforcement agencies to target this illegal and pernicious activity.”

(KMcA/SP)