Guide to identifying illegal DVDs & Blu-rays
There are a number of indicators that help identify illegal Discs:
Availability: Movies are first shown at cinemas before being released on DVD or Blu-ray format, often 3-4 months after their cinema release. If a DVD or Blu-ray format of a movie is being offered for sale before or at the same time as it is being shown at cinemas, then there is a very strong likelihood that it will be an illegal copy.
Price: If the price of a new title DVD or Blu-ray is “too good to be true”, then the chances are, it is. Movie theft is an extremely profitable crime. An illegal DVD or Blu-ray being sold at between $5 to $10 dollars represents profit margins in excess of 1,000% per disc.
Artwork and packaging: The artwork and packaging of genuine DVDs or Blu-rays will be produced to a very high standard. Discs wrapped in cheap cellophane packaging, with poor quality paper stock, inferior quality printing, poor quality labels that can be pealed off, or simply the name of the film or TV show written on the disc itself, are all indicators that the DVD or Blu-ray is an illegal copy.
Classification: Often the artwork of illegal DVDs or Blu-rays does not display the requisite classification markings. In general terms, it is an offence to sell a film unless the determined markings relevant to the classification of the film are displayed on the container, wrapping or casing of the film.
Format: Perhaps the most common indicator is whether the disc is a DVDR or BDR. Such “burnt” DVDs or Blu-rays, as they are more commonly known, are the preferred format of operators manufacturing or selling illegal DVDs or Blu-rays throughout the country:
- DVDRs have a dye layer that makes them immediately recognisable. DVDRs are a purple or blue colour. DVDRs often display a vivid “rainbow effect” if held up to the light. When analysed in this way burn lines, where the data is embedded into the disc, are also evident.
- BDRs or Blu-ray Recordable Discs are identifiable as infringing copies by their grey colour optical side and often display burn lines. The artwork will often contain Asian characters on the disc.
Identification codes: Special Identification Codes, embedded into genuine DVDs and Blu-rays, are not present on burnt DVDRs or BDRs. Instead they normally contain a printed batch number on the inner ring that is often the volume capacity, burn speed of the disc and media type.
Parallel importing
Parallel importing refers to the practice of importing legitimate, non-infringing copies of a movie or television show from one country into another, without specific permission or licence from the destination country’s copyright holder. Under the Copyright Act, any DVDs or Blu-rays imported into Australia for sale or hire, without the licence of the owners of the copyright, is an infringing copy under the Act, and any sale or dealing of parallel imported DVDs or Blu-rays is also an infringement of copyright.
