Anti-Piracy alliance gets top award

[Chewy_fox]

The Dubai-based Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA) has received the prestigious award for launching the best anti-piracy programme by the Motions Pictures Association (MPA) in Brussels.
The alliance manages the anti-piracy programme in the GCC and Jordan.

Ola Khudair, Public Relations manager of the AAA, said: "We are so thrilled. We have been trying to get this award for the last seven years. It is a great fulfillment, but it would not have been possible without assistance from the local authorities."

She added: "AAA has forged excellent relations with enforcement authorities. Through this close collaboration and the tireless efforts of the police, information ministries, ports and customs departments, and economic departments, there has been a seizure of over 1.5 million CDs, 400,000 cassettes, 3,200 VCR machines, and 12,000 smart cards in over 577 separate actions since January last year.

"In the UAE, the programme got outstanding support from the authorities and it has continued to achieve excellent raid results. We have now seized over 600,000 pirated discs, 100,000 cassettes, 300 VCRs and some 12,000 pirated smart cards."

The alliance has been conducting this programme since 1996, in close collaboration with government authorities.

"Their co-operation has managed to convert many of these markets from almost wholly pirate markets to predominantly legitimate ones," she said.

"The UAE courts have imprisoned over 24 pirates convicted of copyright infringement. In Saudi Arabia, 24 raids have been conducted on duplication and warehouse facilities seizing over a million pirate cassettes and discs and hundreds of recorders.

"A raid just last month in Riyadh resulted in a single seizure of over 625,000 pirate CDs in a warehouse. In Kuwait, Brigadier General Qasim has begun to secure significant raid results against optical disc pirates, netting over 26,000 pirate VCDs."

Khudair explained that the alliance and its local members have been working tirelessly to defend the interests and rights of the member studios of Motion Picture Association. The alliance has offices in Jeddah, Riyadh, Dubai, and Kuwait.

In the UAE, the Operations are headed up by Major (Retired) Ahmed Al Naqeeb. The alliance is planning to establish operations in Jordan and Pakistan as well.

Active members of the Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance include the Motion Picture Association, Hobo Collections, Modern Electronics Establishment (Megastar), Disney, Intermediate, Founoon Gulf Film Trading, Showtime, Disney Channel, Showtime, Star TV, Arab Digital Distribution (ART), Multichoice, Sony Playstation, Electronic Arts, R.E.D. Distribution Company and Business Software Alliance.

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