WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Hollywood Reporter) — Mexican authorities raided an open-air market reportedly notorious for selling pirated DVDs a week after Motion Picture Assn. of America president/CEO Dan Glickman complained about the marketplace to Mexican President Vicente Fox.
During the meeting the week of March 14, Glickman told Fox he had found a copy of the Spanish-language version of “The Pacifier,” a movie produced by Glickman’s son Jonathan, in the Tepito market, according to the MPAA.
The Mexican Attorney General’s office dismantled six pirate production labs, one packaging lab and four pirate distribution centers. In addition, they seized 334 DVD-R and CD-R burners, 28,400 pirate films in multiple formats, 50 TVs and DVD players and miscellaneous jackets and packaging, the MPAA said. The entire seizure represented a volume of about 20 tons including a record number of CD burners.
The meeting was the first between Glickman and a foreign head of state since he took over the association from Jack Valenti last year. Glickman’s meeting with Fox continues the MPAA’s tradition of face-to-face talks with high-ranking foreign officials to discuss issues confronting the domestic and international film industries.
Mexico is one of the most important markets in this hemisphere and one where, notwithstanding improved efforts by Mexican law enforcement authorities, piracy levels and losses remain unacceptably high, according to the International Intellectual Property Alliance’s 2005 report to the U.S. Trade Representative.
Estimated trade losses because of copyright piracy topped $870 million last year, the IIPA estimates. The MPAA is an IIPA member.
