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Anecdotal evidence suggests that counterfeiting/piracy can help create online word of mouth (WOM) and through this boost demand, but how powerful is such WOM? To answer this question, we conduct a descriptive study with some attempts to establish near causality. We estimate the impact of piracy on WOM and ultimately revenue by applying a panel data method to all movies widely released in the United States from 2015 to 2017. In identifying the effects of piracy we make inventive use of Russian piracy data to construct instrument variables for piracy in the United States. This is possible because the key piracy site, The Pirate Bay, has been blocked in Russia since 2015. We find movies with prerelease piracy are associated with lower revenues despite the WOM effect. Critically, however, we show a positive correlation between postrelease piracy and WOM volume, and we extend the field by finding that the presence of postrelease piracy is associated with an approximately 3.0% increase in box office revenue. We also note the impact of a raid by the Swedish Police that temporarily took down The Pirate Bay website in December 2014. The period when the site was down experienced a decline in WOM volume and revenues, consistent with the effect of lower postrelease piracy predicted by our models. Our findings suggest approaches to target scarce antipiracy resources, such as focusing on tackling damaging prerelease piracy. This paper was accepted by Juanjuan Zhang, marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I systematically look at transnational video film flows and the emergence of local video film industries in key hubs for the physical distribution of video films in major cities of Kiswahili-speaking East Africa.1 There is evidence of decentralized processes of homogenization: pirated Hollywood films, and, to varying degrees, films from Hong Kong, Bollywood and Nollywood were available in all hubs,2 although they especially dominate the smaller markets. In addition to this homogenous flow, in Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala, there are also processes adding heterogenity to the markets: oral translations and emerging new video film industries inspired by the Nollywood business model (Riverwood, Bongowood, Ugawood).3 In the late 2000s, this caused a decline in the popularity of Nollywood video films on these markets. After a short boom, these new industries themselves suffered from the prevailing media piracy and from the growing popularity of local and Nollywood content on television. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the veiled chain of film piracy, a major crime in the Nigeria entertainment industry. Studies on film piracy in Nigeria have focused on its economic implications, both on the copyright owners and on the Nigerian economy. The organization of the activities of the film pirates has, however, been neglected. Narratives were extracted through in-depth interviews with pirates, "marketers," and "producers." Data indicated that pirates were insiders in the film marketing industry and included importers of foreign movies, registered and nonregistered retailers of Nigerian films, as well as marketers appointed by copyright owners to distribute their films. With the connivance of sales girls working with the copyright owners and dubbing companies, original copies of films (white face) are "procured." Pirates distributed pirated copies, also secretly known as "green face," without issuing receipts or putting the logo of the company on it. For security reasons, pirated films are sold only to buyers introduced by a member in the piracy network. Efforts aimed at fighting piracy must take into account this veiled network to effectively combat intellectual theft via aggressive ban on the public sale of such products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on segmenting digital movie and TV series pirates and on investigating the effectiveness of piracy-combatting measures i.e., legal and educational strategies, in light of these segments. To address these research objectives, two online studies were conducted. First, 1277 valid responses were gathered with an online survey. Four pirate segments were found based on differing combinations of attitude toward piracy, ethical evaluation of piracy and feelings of guilt. The anti-pirate, conflicted pirate, cavalier pirate, and die-hard pirate can be placed on a continuum of increasing pirating frequency, subjective norm, pirating self-efficacy, habit, and decreasing in perceived harm, respectively. The segments also differ in deontological and teleological orientations. Second, in an experimental mixed design, we find that the educational strategy is more effective than the legal strategy in lowering pirating intentions for the conflicted and cavalier pirate. However, both strategies fail at lowering intentions of the die-hard pirate, although perceived harm and perceived impunity were significantly influenced. These findings offer a more profound understanding of pirate segments and how they react differently to piracy-combatting measures. As a result, better strategies can be developed to control digital piracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the public debate over proposed U.S. legislation designed to give prosecutors and copyright holders new tools to pursue suspected online copyright violations. We compiled, mapped, and analyzed a set of 9,757 stories published over 16 months relevant to the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA), Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). This study applies a mixed-methods approach that combines text and link analysis with human coding and informal interviews to map the evolution of the controversy over time and to analyze the mobilization, roles, and interactions of various actors. We find a vibrant, diverse, and decentralized networked public sphere that exhibited broad participation, leveraged topical expertise, and successfully reframed a debate and focused public sentiment to shape national public policy. A network of small-scale commercial tech media, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and individuals fulfilled the fourth estate function; traditional media then amplified the work of these actors. The campaign involved substantial experimentation and rapid development of mobilization strategies. We observe an increased public awareness of an agenda originating in the networked public sphere, which emerged successfully despite substantial expenditures attempting to produce a mass media narrative that favored the legislation. Moreover, we witness what we call an attention backbone, in which more trafficked sites amplify less-visible individual voices on specific subjects. The data suggest that, at least in this case, the networked public sphere enabled a dynamic public discourse that involved both individual and organizational participants and offered substantive discussion of complex issues contributing to affirmative political action. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the U.S. government's response to the allegation that the North Korea government is responsible for a cyber attack involving Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.'s computer system in November 2014, and it mentions how confidential information from the entertainment firm such as private emails and unreleased motion pictures was subsequently released on the Internet. A U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal inquiry into the cyber attack is also examined.

Film studios have spent the past two decades lobbying extensively to establish new legislation restricting access to copyrighted materials online. While there is growing evidence of the effect film piracy has on studio profits, the evidence on the impact of anti-piracy legislation is limited. If anti-piracy legislation is having the film industry's desired impact, we would expect film revenues to be consistently higher following the passage of major laws that restrict access to pirated content, or major enforcement actions, such as the shutdown of Web sites that provide illegal content for download. This paper applies an intervention analysis approach to weekly data on movie box-office revenues in the USA to determine whether the passage of new anti-piracy policy has generated significant changes in box-office revenues during the period from 1997 to the present. These effects are evaluated in both the short and long term, which allows an assessment of the duration of effectiveness of government actions. The results show that four of the six included policies are ineffective in the long term and those policies that do impact revenues in the short term often harm film studios, rather than help them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital distribution channels raise many new challenges for managers in the media industry. This is particularly true for movie studios where high-value content can be stolen and released through illegitimate digital channels, even prior to the release of the movie in legal channels. In response to this potential threat, movie studios have spent millions of dollars to protect their content from unauthorized distribution throughout the lifecycle of films. They have focused their efforts on the pre-release period under the assumption that pre-release piracy could be particularly harmful for a movie's success. However, surprisingly, there has been little rigorous research to analyze whether, and how much, pre-release movie piracy diminishes legitimate sales. In this paper, we analyze this question using data collected from a unique Internet file-sharing site. We find that, on average, pre-release piracy causes a 19.1% decrease in revenue compared to piracy that occurs post-release. Our study contributes to the growing literature on piracy and digital media consumption by presenting evidence of the impact of Internet-based movie piracy on sales and by analyzing pre-release piracy, a setting that is distinct from much of the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay discusses the decline of Spanish-film DVD sales and movie theater attendance as well as the rise of digital piracy due to the economic struggles of the country. Topics include the September 2011 enforcement of the anti-piracy act the Sinde Law, popular peer-to-peer (P2P) network websites for sharing digitally pirated media, and attempts by European Union (EU) countries to develop anti-piracy laws and legislation.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the antecedents affecting digital piracy of movies, and evaluate them in the context of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). It will also determine via a proxy measurement, if individuals’ intentions to engage in digital piracy will translate into actual engagement in digital piracy of movies. Design/methodology/approach – In all, 404 students at a large Western Australian University were surveyed using self-administered surveys. The data were analysed via a path analysis using structural equation modelling in order to identify the influences of antecedent factors on individual attitudes and intentions to engage in digital piracy. Finally, through the proxy measurement, actual engagement in digital piracy of movies was evaluated against consumer intentions to perform that behaviour. Findings – The results confirm the identified antecedents (affect, moral judgement, social habit and self-efficacy) as appropriate in evaluating an individual's intentions to engage in digital piracy of movies. The findings indicated that social habit, self-efficacy and attitude towards digital piracy had a positive effect on individual intentions to engage in digital piracy of movies. It also showed that affect is an antecedent factor to attitudes towards digital piracy but also directly influences individual intentions to engage in digital piracy. Moral judgement and social habits was also found to have negative and positive influences on an individual's engagement in digital piracy of movies. Practical implications – This study reinforces previous studies in showing that the neutralisation theory and TPB are effective in explaining attitudes towards digital piracy of movies and intentions to engage in it. It has also sought to ascertain if intentions to engage in digital piracy of movies would significantly influence behaviour to engage in digital piracy of movies via a proxy measurement. Originality/value – This study adds to the literature of piracy in software and music downloads. In terms of digital movies, this study uncovers other possible factors that may affect engagement in digital piracy of movies, which could serve as the basis for future research into the phenomenon of digital piracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In socialist Romania of the mid-1980s, workers’ clubs, theaters, student centers, opera houses, and even philharmonics used the new medium of the videocassette to organize film-viewing venues exhibiting pirated cinematic material. They were called videotheques and sold tens of thousands of admission tickets to an audience hungry for Western commercial films. This article studies the development of this quasi-legal and hybrid economic experiment. It describes its operation, analyzes its spectatorship, the alternative public spheres and patterns of resistance it produced, and the reaction of the Communist authorities, revealing the politically subversive dimension of entertainment consumption in socialist economies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A film criticism is presented of the DVD edition of the film "Borat," starring Sacha Baron Cohen, in which the author explores the DVD's paratextual navigation metadata in light of critic Gérard Genette. The essay is a modified chapter of the author's book "Deletions: Absence, Obsolescence, and the Ends of Media." Topics include the film's engagement with actress Pamela Anderson of the television program "Baywatch," DVD digitization, as well as an analysis of "Borat" as a bootleg film.

The study is an attempt to get the insights on attitudes and behaviour of people in the changing media landscape. The study highlights the online piracy of videos, games, movies, slides, mashups etc and addresses the impact that piracy is laying upon on the mindsets of users who are indulged in such activities. The study also signifies the reasons behind piracy, the frequency of doing so, modes of accessing, and likelihood of discontinuing the same. The study is one of its kinds which can be used as a means of awareness against the mass infringement cases which can help in recognizing the need of addressing copyright trolling and thus protecting the unauthorized movement of bits around the internet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The music and movie industries have dominated the discussion on Internet piracy. Both industries have employed the use of technologies that limit the ability to share digital files of their audiovisual works, known as digital rights management technology. In addition, both industries have pursued aggressive legal action campaigns to enforce intellectual property rights against individuals who are illegally downloading files and websites that facilitate piracy. But by all counts, these efforts have failed to control the problem, and arguably damaged their reputations. Though music and movie piracy has received the most headlines, the PC video game industry has similarly suffered. The video game industry, too, has pursued the traditional enforcement routes that other industries have used to combat piracy, with the same middling results. Thus, some developers have turned to alternative means of combating piracy, which are primarily aimed at changing the hearts and minds of its gaming community. By fostering a negative social stigma towards piracy, developers have found an effective means of protecting their intellectual property. This Article focuses on two primary methods that video game developers have used to combat Internet piracy. The first method is the use of open pricing models, whereby purchasers pay what they want for a particular game or package of games. The second method is the use of endogenous digital rights management technology that does not entirely restrict access to the game, but which can severely frustrate game play, often in a comical manner. The success of this latter method is unique to the game industry. Ultimately, these methods have had a positive effect on the industry's attempt to combat piracy. intellectual property laws have already been amended and employed to combat piracy. Legislation and litigation are often the first responders to changing industry landscapes. Yet these traditional avenues have been ineffective in protecting intellectual property on the Internet. Perhaps, then, the answer lies in the video game industry's approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines what appears to be the most important factor shaping file sharing: the failure of traditional cultural markets to efficiently supply the demand in the online environment. Its findings are based on tracking the traffic of movies on three Hungarian P2P networks. This dataset is then matched with cinematic distribution data of the films tracked in P2P transactions. Central to our analysis is the assessment of two piracy paradigms: substitution and shortage, that is, whether pirated content is available through legal or only illegal channels. Shortage-driven downloaders are found to outnumber those downloading only current theater releases. Nonetheless, the supply of films available for downloading is more affected by parameters of cinematic distribution than it is by box office success. Therefore, part of the sales effort directly contributes to propping up piracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's rampant movie piracy has given rise to an alternative film culture. Through the viral infrastructure of pirate circulation and consumption, an active cineaste culture of "D-buffs" and an independent film practice, the "D-generation," have rapidly emerged and expanded in urban China. This essay's examination of the D-buff subculture and the D-generation movement shows that this alternative, pirate film culture has opened up precious space for an alternative public sphere to develop counter to the hegemonic pseudo-public controlled by state censorship and commercial industries. By organizing spectatorship and filmmaking through the shadow system of piracy, this alternative public sphere provides an inclusive, heterogeneous, and non-controllable social horizon for organizing collective experience and identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do structural market conditions affect people's media consumption over time? This article examines the evolution of Chinese pirate film consumption from the mid-1980s to 2005 as a structurational process, highlights its different mechanisms (as compared to those of legitimate cultural markets), and teases out an unconventional path to broadening the scope of societal tastes in culture. The research reveals that, in a structural context consisting of a giant piracy market, lacking advertising or aggregated consumer information, consumers developed "movie talk" from the grassroots. The media environment comprised solely of movie talk guides people's consumption of films toward a heterogeneous choice pattern. The noncentralized, unquantifiable, and performative features of movie talk that may contribute to such an effect are discussed herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines factors that affect online movie piracy activity. Specifically, the authors examine the impact of inexpensive legal streaming services, such as Netflix, and household family income as well as gender. A sample of college students at a private university, representing a more affluent population, are compared with students from a public institution. Initial findings indicate differences between the two samples. Lastly, although digital piracy is reduced among the samples, it does still exist suggesting a much more complex issue than previously thought. • Streaming service usage differs between the schools. • The use of illicit sources for movie piracy is not prevalent among sampled college students. • Ordinal regression found significant differences in the levels of piracy between men and women. • The data shows that the high usage of legal streaming services as whole has greatly reduced movie piracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]