Piracy alert

Despite police crackdowns on market hawkers in Valletta and other places selling fake products, the merchandise is once again back on the stalls.

Piracy of CDs is well-known to be a major racket in Malta, but what is not such common knowledge is the fascinating way in which hawkers fiercely protect their business by alternately joining forces and stabbing each other in the back.

MaltaToday can reveal that the piracy business is conducted mainly by two organisations, which, although in competition with each other, join forces in times of trouble to protect their illegal trade.

The people behind these organisations, one of whom owns a villa featured in a highly popular local TV production, have permits to operate market stalls in Valletta and other places from where they sell copied music CDs, DVDs, videos and other material in breach of copyright laws.

The sale of such material is often seen taking place in full view of police officers patrolling the markets checking for the relevant stall permits.

However, business is not always plain sailing in this not-so-underground network. There have been instances when stall owners reported rivals to the police in a bid to drive them out of business.

But recent developments have forced the ‘pirates’ to close ranks.

The government and the Police Force are under pressure from the European Union and the United States to crack down on the illegal trade. Unbridled piracy of copyrighted material has tarnished Malta’s image abroad.

A prime mover in the crackdown on pirated material has been Visual and Sound Communications, which is the operator of the Exotique chain of outlets.

During the police raid on the ‘monti’ hawkers on Sunday 23 September more than 7,000 allegedly pirate products were confiscated. The police requested Exotique’s managing director Grace Borg to identify the confiscated merchandise.

MaltaToday is informed that Ms Borg carried out her inspection in full view of the hawkers at the police garage.

However, hawkers got wind that Ms Borg was involved in different levels of the police operation after an internal police memo, highlighting details of the operation, ended up in their possession.

On Friday 28 September the six hawkers affected by the police raid filed a judicial protest against the Police Commissioner claiming that the raid was "illegal and abusive".

The hawkers, Martin Cachia, Christopher Hughes, Reno Buhagiar, Joseph Difesa, Michael Sultana and Richard Mercieca said their property, which was not proven to be pirated, was confiscated by the police after allegations by a direct competitor. The complainants identified Grace Borg as their competitor in the business and claimed that Ms Borg was herself under investigation for alleged pirating of CDs.

The story did not end there because on Monday 1st October Ms Borg on behalf of VSC Ltd sued the six hawkers for libel over the contents of the judicial letter.

The tit-for-tat backfired on the Exotique owner because on the same day she filed for libel, the police raided her record shops in connection with Region 1 DVDs.

The police raided all the Exotique outlets in the evening and kept employees locked in, well into the evening until the inquiring magistrate eventually ordered the shops closed. It is understood that while the police were present in the Sliema Exotique outlet at around 10pm, the son of one of the six hawkers who had filed the judicial protest was seen watching the whole operation from outside with a big smile on his face.

Police officers confiscated the DVDs, which Ms Borg claims are perfectly legal merchandise. The confiscated DVDs, she says, were covered by all customs documentation and all relevant rights were paid for.

Region 1 DVDs are normally produced and sold in the United States. Malta supposedly falls under region 2, which covers Britain and Europe. However, Ms Borg insists that there is no law in Malta that prohibits anybody from importing Region 1 DVDs.

MaltaToday is informed that tomorrow Ms Borg will be instituting a Court case against the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General asking them to release the DVDs confiscated last month on the grounds that the merchandise is perfectly legal.