Australian Pirate Nailed During ‘X-Men’ Screening

Police in suburban Sydney, Australia Thursday arrested a man videotaping a premiere screening of “X-Men 3: The Last Stand,” according to the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

Authorities are also seeking a second man who fled the scene. Cinema employees who saw the man videotaping the film called police, the MPA said.

The illegal videotaping of cinematic releases is widespread, especially in Asia, where the recorded editions are then burned onto DVDs and sold via pirated goods channels worldwide, or uploaded onto file-sharing networks. Although the quality of such copies is generally poor, the discs usually cost less than the price of theater admission.

The MPA estimates that its member film studios lost US$6.1 billion globally in 2005.

-Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service

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