Berlusconi steps up piracy fight

Gabriella Carlucci heads up campaign

By NICK VIVARELLI

ROME — Italy’s new Silvio Berlusconi-led government is vowing to step up efforts behind an ongoing largely futile battle to fight the country’s rampant piracy plague.

Gabriella Carlucci, in charge of entertainment affairs within Berlusconi’s conservative force, has ordered an urgent new anti-piracy push citing E300 million ($467 million) as the annual revenue loss in Italy “due to illegal trafficking, often controlled by organized crime” of pirated DVD copies and illegal downloads.

“The government must pursue a path of firmness and legality,” she said.

In tandem with new culture czar Sandro Bondi, Carlucci is getting the ball rolling on a renewed war on piracy just as crackdowns on crime in general are high on the agenda of the Italian government, which became operative in May.

Silvio Berlusconi's previous government in 2003 passed one of Europe's toughest copyright laws, modeled on the EU's copyright directive, passing down stiff fines for commercial pirates and individual downloaders. But that law has rarely been enforced and authorities struggle against film and music piracy from organized crime groups and individuals.

Last week, Italy’s top financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported that a Naples newsstand was selling pirated copies of Matteo Garrone’s Naples-set Cannes Grand Prix winner “Gomorrah,” even publicizing them by showing a teaser, clearly oblivious to any risk of sanctions.

The irony is that “Gomorrah,” a smash hit depiction of the Naples mob currently number three at the Italo box office, is being pirated by the very criminals it denounces.

As for peer-to-peer downloading, Berlusconi's 2003 law tried to discourage it by slapping fines on a few caught perpetrators. But Italy's highest court ruled last year that the unauthorized downloading of copyrighted movies, music and video games cannot be considered a crime if the downloader does not profit from the action.