Recently the official webpage of the US Customs and Border Protection Agency reported that counterfeit DVDs of the Canadian television show The Republic of Doyle (and other television shows) had been seized. The article was picked up and circulated to Allan Hawco’s official Twitter account who confirmed the story was legitimate.
A couple of years ago I bought four out of my five seasons of Republic of Doyle DVD collection in Canada. Only season one was available on DVD in my home country. These DVDs were available where all good DVDs were sold (and from Walmart) and cost under $20 each. The sixth and final season I watched pirated on YouTube a couple of days after the episodes aired in Canada. I watched these episodes as part of my research about the importance of access to content needed by fans for interaction with other fans and celebrities as a television series unfold. The results of my observations and experiences are described in another post.
And there is the interesting thing about the seizure of these counterfeit DVDs of the Republic of Doyle. Pirate copies of all episodes from all seasons (like so many Canadian television shows) were loaded up quickly onto YouTube after they aired in Canada and are easily available including some on what looks like an official Republic of Doyle YouTube site. So why bother to buy a counterfeit DVD when every episode and season is available on YouTube?
From my experiences of watching popular television shows from the US and Canada, is that the US is much more vigilant on issuing notices to pirates and blocking content on YouTube. Although a lot of Canadian pirated locally made popular television shows loaded up onto YouTube are not of the best quality, full episodes and seasons are still there for those fans willing to sit through a slightly altered recording that flies under the radar of those issuing blocking notices.
For example, I have watched the Canadian television series Book of Negroes, and as previously mentioned Republic of Doyle, Season 6 and a couple of episodes of the new series filmed in Newfoundland, Frontier on YouTube pirated and often sanctioned with advertisements. They were not available in the country where I live.
It is difficult to know the impact of pirated DVDs sales. However, for the US Customs and Border Protection Agency this was a great catch. In the past authorities have confiscated hundreds of boxes of counterfeit DVDs that are distributed through webpages in Canada, Australia, the US, Germany and New Zealand.
Those caught face charges including fraud under the Criminal Code and breaches in the Copyright Act for reproducing items for sale. Consumers while getting a cheap DVD may be getting an inferior product. The sale of counterfeit DVDs can generate up to hundreds of thousands of dollars of income for pirates that does not go the investors, creators and copyright holders to create television series like Republic of Doyle which we love.
I have provided a copy of the article from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection official webpage. (No copyright infringement intended).
“Counterfeit DVDs of popular television shows seized.” Release Date: March 15, 2017
BLAINE, Wash. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations at the Pacific Highway Port of Entry detained two shipments of DVDs bearing a counterfeit DVD logo. Two separate shipments in February were found to hold popular television programs that aired in Canada and the United States. The products had been in storage awaiting further inspection.
One shipment contained 10 boxes of the popular television series, “Little House on the Prairie” and another held 20 boxes of the program “Republic of Doyle”. They all had the counterfeit DVD logo which is protected under CBP recordation trademark 00-00247. Little House aired on NBC from 1974 to 1982 and Doyle from 2010 to 2014 on CBC in Canada. The violations involve United States Code, title 19, Chapter 4, 19 USC 1526(E), which deals with merchandise bearing a counterfeit mark.
“The DVDs were seized because the importer violated United States laws,” said Area Port Director Kenneth Williams. “Our vital national security mission also includes protecting businesses and consumers through an aggressive Intellectual Property Rights enforcement mandate.”
Other media products and games were on the same shipment and released.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/counterfeit-dvds-popular-television-shows-seized
From the official CBC site (no copyright infringement intended).
