OTTAWA (Reuters) - That man at the end of the aisle in Canadian movie theaters may be doing more than munching popcorn -- he may be a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer looking for movie pirates.
Canada introduced legislation on Friday that will make camcording of films in theaters a crime punishable by up to five years in prison.
Similar to measures enacted or introduced in the United States, Japan and Mexico, it is meant to clamp down on piracy estimated to cost the movie industry $6 billion worldwide and to cost $225 million in lost consumer spending in Canada.
"I don't want this problem of piracy to be seen as an American problem," said Kevin Tierney, producer of the Canadian film "Bon Cop, Bad Cop," who said bootleg copies of his movie had turned up from Montreal to Baghdad.
"This is stealing," he told a news conference alongside government ministers after the bill was introduced.
Heritage Minister Bev Oda said the small size of camcorders, digital technology and the widespread use of the Internet all combine to make unauthorized copying of films an increasing global problem.
In Canada, it had been illegal under the Copyright Act to camcord a movie for commercial use but it was almost impossible to prove people caught making such a recording were doing it for commercial distribution. They could also be ejected under trespass legislation but their recordings could not be seized.
Now, just recording the film will be subject to up to two years in prison and doing it for commercial distribution could face five years.
Oda said that after the United States made it a criminal offense in 2005, pirates shifted to Canada, which the industry estimates has now become the origin of 20 to 25 percent of pirated films.
In response, Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Brothers announced last month it would end its prerelease promotional screenings in Canada, and earlier this year News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox threatened to delay the regular release of movies in Canada.
Oda said she had been assured that prereleases would be restored as the result of this bill.
The government announced on Wednesday, during a visit to Canada by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, that it intended to unveil legislation on piracy, but the bill and its details were only released on Friday afternoon.
