Industry Works To Protect Rights, Makes Strides With Piracy -- U.s. Pirate Recording Seizures...

Pirates and counterfeiters in the U.S. have finally gotten the picture that there's an excellent chance they could end up coughing up huge fines or going to jail, says the head of the anti-piracy unit of the Recording Industry Assn. of America (RIAA).
'This is not a risk-free business,' says Steve D'Onofrio, RIAA's executive VP and director of anti-piracy.
According to figures in the new RIAA midyear anti-piracy statistics survey, seizures of counterfeit and pirate cassettes continue to tumble. CD seizures are down 8.6%, and cassette seizures are down a whopping 57% from last year.
There are fewer and smaller bogus cassette factories in operation, which is where the bulk of arrests has been made in the past, says D'Onofrio, so the number of arrests, indictments, guilty pleas, and convictions has dropped.
'I think we've had an impact,' he says. 'You just don't see the number of cassette vendors setting up anymore, except in isolated pockets.'
D'Onofrio also says that 'word has gotten around' about recent big busts, such as the huge seizure of 800,000 bootleg CDs in March and a landmark fine of $7 million and prison terms of up to 12 years handed down in a successful prosecution involving 'franchised' pirates in several states (Billboard, July 5).
The number of seizures is down compared to last year, but between January and June of this year, law-enforcement authorities took in nearly 195,000 counterfeit/pirate cassettes and 820,000 bogus CDs, along with 1.5 million cassette and CD labels snapped up at raided manufacturing facilities.
D'Onofrio makes a connection between the wiping out of much cassette piracy and the boost in sales of legitimate Latin product. Most bogus cassettes in the last few years have been of Latin product. While non-Latin product saw a 26% decline in recent RIAA midyear sales figures (Billboard, Aug. 30), sales of Latin product cassettes jumped 26%.
The RIAA's anti-piracy division is now focusing its attention on Internet piracy, both in suits such as those filed in June against three music archive sites and through new educational outreach programs with the Internet community.

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