DAMMAM, 8 July — Despite a nationwide crackdown on video shops violating copyright regulations, sales of pirated videocassettes continue unabated in the Eastern Province.
Officials from the Ministry of Information last month carried out a large number of raids in shops suspected of selling pirated videos and took severe action — including cancellation of licenses of a few — against those found guilty.
Many video libraries in the Eastern Province, Qassim, Riyadh, Jeddah and Madinah have been temporarily closed down after they were found to be storing pirated cassettes in contravention of the copyright law. Others have been slapped with fines of varying amounts. The officials permanently closed down a video library in Alkhobar’s Thuqba area for repeating the offense.
The closures and heavy fines, however, did not deter video shops from selling or renting pirated cassettes. Piracy is rampant in the case of Hindi movies, which are in high demand.
In the Eastern Province alone, there are more than 150 video shops and almost all of them still sell or rent out pirated copies. There are some checks on Western and Arabic film cassettes.
These shops normally operate as cassette libraries and enroll members on depositing a fixed sum. Members can rent cassettes at SR5 or below depending on their enrollment category. English movies normally cost more than others. These libraries also sell pirated copies, at SR10 each. The shops have set up their own copying centers, normally located a little away.
Shop owners say that they themselves do not want to sell pirated cassettes, but high prices and the monopoly on distribution rights force them to resort to this illegal practice.
“Their charges are so high that if we sell only original copies, we would incur heavy losses,” said owner of a video library in Alkhobar, whose shop was closed down for three days and had to pay a fine of SR10,000.
Shop owners say there is stiff competition in the trade and so they could not increase the renting rates. During the last five years there has been a mushroom growth of video shops in Alkhobar and Dammam. In Thuqba area alone, there are more than a dozen shops.
“If we sell original prints, then we will have to increase the rate and we will lose customers to shops selling pirated versions,” said the manager of a shop in another Alkhobar district.
Citing example, he said his shop was offering to rent 25 cassettes for SR100. A shop next door reduced its price and made it 30 cassettes for SR110.
Video shop owners were unanimous in saying that there should be rules to check monopoly of distribution rights. They also demand that there should be some control on pricing. If such measures are taken, the phenomenon of piracy will automatically die down. “Otherwise it will continue unabated despite all the stringent measures,” said another shop owner.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information in the Eastern Province reiterated its determination to wipe out the phenomenon. “We will go all the way to put an end to this practice,” said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said shops found selling pirated cassettes would face heavy penalties including cancellation of licenses.
