Underbelly DVD raid in Melbourne
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Victoria Police have seized pirate copies of Underbelly during a counterfeit DVD bust in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
Copies of nine episodes were found, including several yet to air by Nine in states beyond Victoria.
Those producing copies of Underbelly breach both copyright and a court suppression order in Victoria.
Copies of the banned drama began circulating on the black market last month for prices averaging just $30.
A gang, whose members have been charged with offences in recent months allegedly had 7000 pirated DVDs and TV shows, eight new printers and 70 recently purchased DVD burners.
The raids were made by officers from Victoria Police and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft.
A 41-year-old man has been arrested and is being questioned.
Source: Herald Sun
4 Responses
Yes, part of an ongoing investigation, and AFACT is referenced here. I suspect its media that, like me, leads with the Underbelly angle as its just more newsworthy (and kinda ironic to have a raid net a film that sprang to life after the raids by Purana Task Force etc). Nine Publicity didn’t organise or write any of it.
Also, Richo, there was a good story on actor Les Hill in Syd press over the weekend. Hope he gets lots of accolades for his work, followed by Damian Walshe-Howling.
I also put other UB articles in What The Others Reckon.
1. Of course it followed a longer investigation, the word “piracy” covers not only the current Underbelly debacle, but anything involving copyright. Underbelly falls under this just like any other show. The fact that pirates where found making/selling illegal copies of this show as well as many others just proves that the show does have a “black” market and is making money for a lot of people – illegally.
2. If you know anything about piracy and the law, you will know that hey don’t have a “hit” list of TV shows/movies/games/music. If your making illegal copies and your selling them at markets, through newspapers or online, there is a law enforcement agency and they do make arrests on a constant basis, I used to buy illegal copies of PS2 games through the Trading Post, they even delivered to my door, the Post was ripe with ads three years ago as well as many merchants at the local markets, at least 30-40 different sellers every week in the paper and a dozen or so sellers at the markets, now.. not a one. All have been dealt with by the law and that corner of the market is gone.
3. There was never any mention of a special “legal” status for Underbelly, the Underbelly case falls under the same copyright/piracy laws as every other form of medium, in your second point you say they discovered the copies of Underbelly on a normal raid, and then in the third you make the point of saying that it was void of and special consideration as if there was supposed to be one, C9 made a point of saying that the years possibly biggest money making local show has been banned from airing and now being sold illegally, this s Australia and that don’t happen to often, what are they supposed to do? Just throw there hands in the air and say “Aw well!”
In other words, your saying that a whole new set of laws and rules have been announced by Nine to tackle Underbelly when in fact all that was probably done was extra pressure was put on AFACT to find and destroy illegal copies.
And Nines publicity department is thrilled? They had there show banned from airing in the key state, thousands of illegal copies have leaked out, there being humiliated by the current courts and singled out and on top of all of that this whole thing would have cost them millions of dollars that they wouldnt have spent if the show just went to air as normal.
They said they would arrest anyone who made illegal copies and they did, be it they were apart of some specialized ninja style Underbelly crack squad or just a bunch of piracy guys that fall under exactly the same laws is not really the point. Would you rather they didnt make any arrests for piracy??
I understand you think no one is ever arrested for online material and the AFACT just sit around the office playing darts with a pic of Eddie on the board, well, maybe you should start an illegal website for downloading TV shows? Set up some stalls! Make some copies, if the laws dont do anything then your perfectly safe 🙂
Its interesting how more people talk about the pirated DVDs, illegal downloads, etc. of this show than the actual show itself. When was the last time anyone talked about this show regarding its in-story plot, characters, writing, etc? I can’t recall any instance. Well, apart from the woman who complained that the actor portraying her was wrong.
Small details kind of not mentioned by the Herald Sun and glossed over by The Age are that:
1. The raid followed a long investigation that way, way pre-dates the Underbelly controversy,
2. They weren’t looking for copies of Underbelly, they just happened to find some, as they would in the stocks of any DVD piracy operation at the moment,
3. Victoria Police didn’t instigate the investigation – AFACT did – meaning that Underbelly’s Victorian legal status was not even a consideration as evidence was being collected.
In other words, Underbelly had nothing to do with the raid. Nine’s publicity department must be thrilled, however, as they try to keep interest alive in the hope they’ll be allowed to show the first three episodes in Victoria.