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Respect for Film says fighting movie piracy would increase UK economic output by £614 million, protect the jobs of thousands employed in the film industry, and create some 7,900 jobs. No piracy studies make me laugh as much as those commissioned by the entertainment industry. For the basic premise usually is that one illegally downloaded movie equates to a lost ticket sale. With last year's the "Dark Knight" raking in hundreds of millions in box office sales despite being the most pirated movie of all time, one can see that it's not necessarily the case. So now we have another movie piracy study to chew on, this time it's from a UK group called Respect for Film. "Great Expectations," a report on the economic opportunities for the UK film sector, concludes that a series of anti-piracy proposals would bring extra gross revenues of £268m ($370m USD) to the audio-visual industry, £310m ($427m USD) in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would be generated across the entire UK economy, while £155m ($213m USD) would be generated in added govt revenue. In this report the author's peg a "raw" estimate that roughly 58% of all viewings of pirated films (and 21% of pirated TV series viewings) actually count as lost revenues. These raw estimates, in turn, are further downweighted to allow for the fact that many of those who say that they would have paid to watch copyright material in response to survey questions would not, in fact, do so in reality. Altogether, the report claims, fighting piracy would increase UK economic output by £614 million and protect the jobs of many thousands of people employed in the film industry, as well as creating some 7,900 jobs in the wider economy. “Given the current state of the economy, these recommendations are a quick win for the Government given the positive impact they would have on the economy," Lavinia Carey, Chair of Respect for Film. "Our sector isn’t asking for a handout, but targeted legislation to reduce copyright theft and deliver over £600 million and support employment to the benefit of the UK economy." According to the study, for each of the following anti-piracy measures enforced the corresponding economic benefits to the industry can be achieved: · Making camcording illegal in cinemas (£26.1m) ($36m USD) · Regulating car boot sales and other markets (£6.3m) ($8.7m USD) · Introducing legislation to tackle illegal file sharing in the long term (£141.7m) ($195.6m USD) · Creating an effective damages regime (£94.0m) ($129.7m USD)Yet, for all the hassle to consumers that these legislative proposals pose, the study notes that only a total of £268 ($370 USD) million in direct AV industry losses could be recovered. This equates to only 50% of industry losses, in part due to a conservative approach taken by the study's authors. I think that short of monitoring every individual in the UK it's pretty much impossible to determine what the actual figures are. The report thankfully addresses the fact that a single illegal download doesn't mean a single lost sale, but to even peg it at 58% seems contrived and based on conjecture. More importantly, no effort seems to be made to determine what percentage of that 58% eventually go out and buy a movie or concert ticket, nor acknowledge that piracy can spur economic interest in other areas. In short, when can we expect a study from the like of entertainment industry lobbying groups like Respect for Film that focuses on devising ways for it to satisfy the needs and desires of consumers rather vice versa?
