Slumdog Millionaire to top counterfeit mkt

Danny Boyle`s `Slumdog Millionaire, a rags-to-riches story of a Mumbai street boy, is set to become one of the most counterfeited movies of all time, anti-piracy experts have warned. The black market of DVD is flooded with illegal copies of the film, which won seven British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) on Sunday and is still running packed in cinema halls. In the UK, the film, currently is the highest grosser. But pirate versions are already being sold in London for 1 pound to 2.50 pounds each, a report in a city based tabloid `London Lite` claimed yesterday. Eddy Leviten of the Federation of Copyright Theft said that "Any new release is camcordered and duplicated straightaway. But Slumdog Millionaire has real global mass appeal and is going to be targeted on another level." He said "It is a film that has used some relatively unknown talents on a modest budget and all those who worked on it deserve not be cheated." Bureau Report

Cambodia promises crackdown on pirated movies, music

Phnom Penh - Cambodia would begin raids on shops suspected of selling pirated movie DVDs and music CDs, a senior official warned Monday. The South-East Asian nation has become well-known among travellers for its thousands of shops offering dirt-cheap pirated copies of the latest international movies and music, which often hit the stalls before they are in general release overseas.
"The ministry will implement measures imminently to stop the sale of pirated CDs and DVDs to protect the intellectual property of their writers and producers," said Tauch Sarou, undersecretary of state for the Culture Ministry.
"But the ministry alone cannot stop this, so we will cooperate with police and the vendors themselves to stamp the problem out," Sarou said. "It isn't going to stop overnight, but we need the sellers to understand the issue and why we must do this. We will not stop until they do."
The ministry called a meeting of bootleg vendors Friday to warn them of the new crackdown, and police said Monday that they were prepared for the raids.
Cambodia's bootleggers enjoyed impunity for years, but the country was accepted as a member by the World Trade Organization in 2003 and the body has given it until 2013 to comply with regulations.
A vendor from Prey Nokor CD near the capital's Central Market said Monday that she understood intellectual property rights well but that sellers found themselves in a catch-22 situation.
On the one hand, nobody imports original work to Cambodia, and on the other, the 2-dollar-per-disk cost for pirated copies prices the genuine articles out of the market, said the vendor who declined to be named.
"However, I will stop if the law is enforced because I know artists have rights even though it will kill my business," she said. Copyright, respective author or news agency

Sanyo to build huge Vietnam plant, hire 12,000

Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. said Friday its subsidiary in Vietnam will build a new plant and hire up to 12,000 workers as it steps up production of optical pickups for DVD recorders and other devices.
Construction of the factory in Bac Giang Province will begin in September, with operations expected to start in April next year, a company statement said.
"We expect the total investment in the new firm to be around 95 million US dollars," said a spokeswoman for Sanyo, which already produces optical pickups in Japan, China and Indonesia.
The new firm operating the plant will have capital of 10 million dollars, Sanyo said, adding that sales are expected to reach 300 million dollars for 2012.
"With the growth of the developing markets such as China and with the widespread use of next generation DVDs, Sanyo will gear up to expand share in the ever-growing optical pickup business," it said.
The new firm will be wholly controlled by Shenzhen Sanyo Huaqiang Optical Technology Co. of China, which is 60 percent owned by Sanyo, with the remaining 40 percent held by its Chinese partner.
Sanyo has slashed thousands of jobs and sold non-core operations as part of a massive overhaul in recent years, while increasing its focus on rechargeable batteries and environment-friendly technology.
The restructuring appears to be paying off, with Sanyo reporting in May its first annual net profit in four years.