Source: Folha de S. Paulo - SP - MORE! - 04/10/2009

ANA PAULA SOUSA
LOCAL REPORTING

Are Brazilians among the world piracy champions because CDs and DVDs are expensive or CDs and DVDs are expensive because the formal market is small? More than 70% of Play- Station fans buy illegal games because there are no manufacturers in Brazil or do companies not manufacture here because they were driven away by piracy?
In the country where 68% of the population admits to having bought pirated products, the “tostines equation” helps to solve the account in which pirated products are crossed, smuggling and illegal downloads.

“The distribution of copyrighted goods is as illegal as someone breaking into your home or stealing your car,” defends economist Gilson Schwartz, a scholar of digital media.

“The mismatch between copyright legislation and technological reality contributes to the perception that copyright can be violated”, ponders Ronaldo Lemos, from Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-RJ).

“The internet has changed consumer habits. The industry has to change the way it distributes content ”, admits Rodrigo Drysdale, from Warner Home Entertainment.
Legally, file sharing via the internet is not, in Brazil, a criminal offense. "Unless you sell these files, it is not a crime," defines prosecutor Alfonso Presti, coordinator of the Integrated Action Plan against Piracy at the state prosecutor's office. The agency is concerned, above all, forgeries of toys, which may pose risks to the child, and the consequences of piracy, "which may be linked to other crimes, such as money laundering, tax evasion, unfair competition and tendency to corruption at various levels" .

Between “philosophers of the liberated general” and “uncompromising defenders of tradition and property”, the music and audiovisual industries try to balance themselves. In the case of the music industry, there seems to be a consensus that the solution is not to crack down on downloading and pirated CDs.

“The consumer has to be attracted”, says Englishman Adrian Harley, taken from the phonographic industry by Nokia to take care of music in Brazil. “Audio quality, cover, no virus. There is no point in selling a file, if you download the file for free. I have to sell a service. ”

In the case of cinema, the answers are still not so clear. “Our retail price is 40% lower than three years ago”, says Wilson Feitosa, from Europa Filmes, referring to DVDs. With piracy and internet, the rental market had a drop in sales of around 47% in 2006 for 2008.

But at Warner, for example, the compensation came in the form of TV series, video games and, now, downloads. “[About] 20% of our DVDs, in Brazil, are sold on the internet. It is the highest index in the world ”, says Drysdale.

In the case of games, the situation is even more chaotic. In addition to pirates, there is “gray import”, with original products that enter the country illegally. “Only 20% of the games market is legal. It is not just the fault of piracy. The companies were not interested in having a local representation, in investing in the country ”, admits Drysdale.
"Many negotiations are halfway because of the illegality of the market," says Márcio Gonçalves, an anti-piracy consultant, who cites iTunes as an example.

For Drysdale, the vastness of piracy in Brazil is linked to social and economic issues, but also to a cultural tic: “Seeing the film beforehand, and without paying, is, for many people, a way to take advantage, to make Gerson's Law ”.