The pirates have landed Macedonia

By Bardhyl Zaimi and Urim hasipi

In each corner of the street, at any time, the sellers of the pirate materials can be found there, concentrated in their “business”. Always ready to provide you with information about what you want to buy, about the singers and the newest films they “offer”. A pile of CDs, DVDs and cassettes of the newest films are exposed all the time in the most frequented spots, and for less than 2 euros a pirate copy can be property of those interested.

They are people who sell in some improvised street stands, most of the times  some poor men, to whom the protection of the intellectual property is a distant concept, seen only as a “threat” when the police undertakes actions for sequestration of their pirate materials. Most of them get the counterfeit materials from other persons, whose identity they never reveal, thus fearing of losing their minimal daily wages. “This job helps me provide my family with elementary necessities, and I don’t see anything bad about this”, says a seller of pirate materials in Tetovo, who wants to remains as anonymous to the public. After pronouncing this sentence, he calmly puts his hands into his jacket pockets and having this frightened look in his eyes gives a sign that every further conversation about it is excessive. Most of the times, the “survival” sellers remain disengaged from the chain of this profitable “business” through a silent pact suggested by the furnishers of pirate studios. The “hierarchy” of this enigmatic chain accepts no questions, only services are available.  

The piracy has conquered each pore of Macedonia. The piracy is spreading all over, similar to the growth of tumour in the metastasis period. There is no city, town or village in Macedonia where you can not find any pirate materials in sale. The protection of the intellectual property is authorized by law, whereas the specialists say that this crime is a well organized one. According to them, the earnings from the piracy are unbelievable high, and the loss that the country suffers is about 45 million euros each year. Pirate materials can be found in each CD or DVD  and Video Clubs in Macedonia. The vast majority of the pirates is organized so well that it crosses the borders of Macedonia, but there are smaller units working alone, as well. Even though the pirate materials are sold everywhere and actions to prevent this occurrence have been undertaken, again and again they are present in each spot of the street. Copying a CD  or moving a programme from one computer to another occurs in the middle of the day, without any problems. The difficulty of copying a film or music in the internet is inexistent, since the programmes are available and can be downloaded, copied and delivered illegally. During the 17 years of transition, this type of business has grown up so much that it seems very difficult to stop. 

How do the pirates operate?

There are two types of  film and CD pirates. The first group is considered less dangerous by the piracy inspectors, but it is often persecuted by the police, and it is consist of “self employed” persons, or small groups of 3 or 4. They record the DVDs or the CDs at home to sell them in the streets with a very low price afterwards. We met a suchlike in Skopje, in a small stand near the Old Bazaar. This seller, whose name is known to the authors of this article, says he’s the one who records the CDs and the films he sells. “I am unemployed and I have to take care of my family. I have a wife and three children. What can I do? Not a long time ago, I used to copy the CDs at a friend’s house, but after I bought my own computer, I record them myself. I don’t make lots of money, just to provide my family with food”, says he.

His slow movements and wandering beyond our presence indicates that he is bothered by our further presence. With his clumsy fingers he arranges some DVDs of singers, whose genders he has already learnt by heart. After a while, he dives into an inner “sadness” and with a sense of regret with a lot of difficulty he reconfirms: “Just to provide food for my family”. This “refrain” can be heard from each street seller, which are very often outspoken as a category of asocial people and living on the edges of survival.  

The other group, considered as more sophisticated by the inspectors of the pirate market is well organized and has its network. The Director of the Coordinator Body for the protection of the intellectual property, Mite Kostov says that the pirate studios placed in residential buildings in Bitola, Ohrid and Skopje, have employed tens of people bound up with each other. According to him, the film recording machinery confiscated in Strumica has pointed out the involvement of a group of people from many world countries. “They have advanced more than us in their business there are no national or religious differences”, Kostov says.

At least one publisher has found 18 of his reproduced deeds

The book piracy “circulates” through the same mazes like the piracy of CDs and DVDs. The artistic books, novels and the university books can be reproduced and photocopied anywhere. The books used in university studies by the students can be found in all the copy shops near the university buildings as duplicates. Halil Zendeli, the owner of the Publishing House “Vatra”, says that he has found 17-18 of his publications reproduced in Tetovo, Debar and Kicevo, as well as in the International Book Fair in Skopje. “They take my publication, put some different cover pages, they do not even remove the logo of “Vatra”. It has happened to at least 17 – 18 of my published books”, says he. Zendeli explains to have complained many times about this issue, but he has never had any results, therefore he has given up the fight to protect his property. “Beside this type of piracy, there is also another way of stealing the publications. The stolen original publication serves as a model, i.e. the authors of the tradition, there is no respect of some of the author’s audiences, but lots of work needs to be done. First, you have to chose a title, edit it, lecture it, etc. The other publisher does not have to chose a title, for he takes it ready from me, makes some copies and publishes it as his own work of his own publishing house”, Zendeli explains.

The Sector of the Copyrights explains that this is a double violation of the author’s rights and the publisher’s rights, but they blame the authors and the publishers for this, as well. “We have inherited some defects from the communist regime. We’re waiting for the government to guarantee our rights all the time. First of all, we have to demand for our rights, although we know that the law-courts work extremely slowly, but the justice is justice”, says the manager of the sector, Ollgica Trajkovska. She makes a further illustration by saying that until November 2007, a reviser service of the Ministry of Culture has worked on the ground regarding the copyrights. This service has been consist of only three inspectors who have never found anything in the ground.

A while ago, the Society of Bookstores of Macedonia has reacted against the illegal sale of the school books. This Society has demanded the removal of all the stands from the sidewalks and the city markets, as well as the shutdown of the library on the avenue near river Vardar in Skopje,  a place of massive sale of school books and other materials. The chairman of this society, Gjorgji Simevski has requested a protection by the state against this disloyal competition, because this society helps to feel in the state budged, meanwhile, according to him, the disloyal competition harms the state. Appealing on the principle of the protection of the copyrights and the intellectual properties, as well as in the war against the piracy with the school books, this society has demanded the forbiddance of the photocopying of the school books and materials.

Over 60 per cent of the citizens use illegal software

The piracy of the computer programmes remains a very profitable “business”. The unlicensed programmes display a very “normal figure” for the personal computers of the citizens, the cyber clubs and companies. Not a long time ago, the World Alliance of Software Business has reacted against the illegal use of the computer programmes. According to the Alliance, over 60 per cent of the citizens of Macedonia use illegal software. They also say that the illegal software and the insufficient protection of the intellectual property affects directly on the investments of the foreign capital in Macedonia.

Specialist of this field and juridical representatives of the companies for the protection of the legal computer programmes say that on account of insufficient protection the country misses millions of euros each year.

The representative of the Alliance of Software Business, Vladimir Pepelugovski, has recently signified the difficulties on preventing the software piracy. According to him, it is more profitable to sell an illegal software, which may cost up to 100, 200 or sometimes thousands of euros comparing to the sale of a gram of cocaine. 

The specialists in the protection of the legal programmes have announced that this type of piracy represent the criminality of the future.

The Radio Diffusion Piracy is Fed by a Lawful “Chaos”

The Radio Diffusion space is also reigned by a chaos, which feeds many television channels with piracy of broadcasting foreign television programmes without any prior agreements. Exclusive broadcasts of sport events have been noticed by two or more services at a same time. The Radio Diffusion Council confirms that disorder which happens as a result of the lack of inspection and as a consequence of very light legal sanctions.

The Chairman of the Radio Diffusion Council, Zoran Stefanoski says that despite the fact of lacking the regulation regarding this problem, the council has decided to constitute a team of people working on a sector which will deal with the piracy in the radio diffusion area.

“At this moment this initiative will be backed up by a rule, which will sustain in the actual law and will serve as a measure to undertake actions regarding this issue. We are also aiming to sign a memorandum between the Radio Diffusion Council and the Ministry of Culture which will define the procedures of act”, says Stefanoski. At first, this memorandum is expected to detect the piracy, to undertake a common action afterwards. “We will operate as institutions through that memorandum. This will not be sufficient for sure, I still believe that the Coordinator Body remains more competent on the protection of the intellectual property, because it includes more institutions and can be more efficient”, says he.

The Radio Diffusion Council has its competences to put sanctions on the abuses and the piracy of the radio diffusion area, but those penalties are very light and low. This council requests rigorous punishments for the violators. “We have to say that one of the problems on the path towards the integration in the UE remains the guarantee and the protection of the copyrights”, says Stefanoski.

No sanctions against the radio diffusive subjects have been undertaken so far for abusing the copyrights, it has instead been dealing with the registration of the communication network packages which posses suspicious agreements for the arrangements of the copyrights. In a workshop organized by this council this issue was discussed. Stefanoski requested the Council to draw a black list and a white list of the media services present in the market. The white list would include all those services which operate with arranged copyrights, whereas the black list would consist of the services that would not be allowed to fully broadcast such programmes made in the former Yugoslav Republics. Those programmes are being broadcast without any authorization. Stefanoski says there is a problem with the broadcasting of many international sport events which are exclusive to some mediums.

“If a service can not sign an agreement for the copyrights and for the full broadcast of a programme, than we can realise this is a violation of law, therefore many things have to be revised, because we are about to put these channels on the “Black List”, says Stefanoski.

No arrangements on the radio diffusion area have been made so far, therefore we believe that “Pandora’s box” will be opened when the Council decides to act. “Many stupidities will be noticed, but the most important is that all the weaknesses will be found. We are determined on this, but we need repressive legal measures so we can penalize them. We are going round in circles. A fine of 2,000 euros is ridiculous, especially when we know that a big number of matters become old in the court, and this is not fair. Concrete inspections and punishments are needed, such as broadcasting licence sequestration and the removal of the authority as an operator of a communication network”, says Stefanoski.

Many large companies are not allowed to enter alone, thus they are being suggested to enter as a package with others, in the name of collective copyrights. Stefanoski finds this rather suspicious than logical. “We must find ways to contact these company representatives and legitimate them in the Radio Diffusive Council in order to gain a general agreement of representation. This will help us verify if they are quasi representatives or real representatives”, says he. All the actual packages seem suspicious about the cleanliness of their agreements. The members of the Council are convinced that these issues must be clarified. Some of them have proposed to start from the number of the services which are clean regarding this issue. “It doesn’t have to mean that we should have hundreds of channels with different insanities without any quality. It is much better to have only 20 standardized channels instead of this chaos we do have”, says Stefanoski.

The piracy is still reigning in Macedonia, says Stefanoski, but luckily, we have started to wake up and look for a legal solution of this problem. “The piracy should be solved within a legal framework, which means the establishment of an action plan and the time settings, and more competences for the Radio Diffusive Council, after all”, says he.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has made 55 charges in 15 months

The notifications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) show a large amount of pirate materials confiscated, a part of it already smashed and torn to pieces, whereas another part has stuck on the “mazes” of the courts. The MIA has confiscated 186 thousand pirate materials in 15 months, thus making 55 charges. The Criminology Department of the MIA explains to have confiscated over 111 thousand pirate materials (DVDs, CDs, MP3 and audio cassettes with different content) in the 2007 while searching in merchant buildings, cyber clubs, entertainment buildings and stands. 32 charges were made on 36 individuals, owners of DVD clubs, private companies and other persons. The charges are on violating the copyrights and using someone else’s firm without a proper authorization, and deception of buyers. Meanwhile, during the first three months of 2008, in searches made in DVD clubs, private firms and other persons, the inspectors have found and confiscated over 74 thousand pirate materials, such as DVDs, CDs, MP3 and audio cassettes with different content, consequently having 23 charges against 23 crime doers for committing 19 criminal acts, such as “the violation of the copyrights” and five charges on “piracy of audio visual materials”. Ljubomir Gjyrçevski, assistant director in the Criminology Department says that the other information about the other methods of this type of counterfeiting are being held in secret, since the police is working on their full recovery.

The Piracy Diffuses Like the Cancer

The establishment of the Coordinator Body for the protection of the intellectual property a year ago has been the first step on the measures that Macedonia has started to undertake against this type of organized crime. The Chairman of the Coordinator Body, Mite Kostov says there is no part of Macedonia free of piracy and he adds that this type of crime is a well organized one, thus this business is a highly profitable. “There is no city, town or village in Macedonia where you won’t find violation of copyrights or pirate materials, whatsoever”, says he. Kostov explains that the Coordinator Body established on April 24th, 2007 works on stages. “At first we started to clean up the pirate materials, CDs, DVDs, etc; thus to “sweep” the piracy on the grounds, in order to continue with the national plan and strategy with a larger spectrum afterwards, involving 11 institutions, such as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the European Integration Department, State Organ for Industrial Property, State Inspectorate of the Markets, the Customs and the Ministry of Economy. All these institutions work in cooperation. The Coordinator Body undertakes four consentaneous operations each month”, Kostov explains. Since this body is consist of inspectors from 11 different institutions, the space for corruption is minimal. “Regular searches are carried out by the inspectors of the Ministry of Culture as well, the market inspectors, etc. If the Coordinator Body performs searches on the ground, it is all over, since there is one inspector from each institution involved”, says the head of the Coordinator Body. However, the operation clogs when it comes to the demolition of the confiscated materials, since this process has to follow an judiciary verdict. “A year ago we destroyed a part of pirate materials and as a response to our request, the government will have two more actions for the destruction of the remaining parts, in accord with the laws and after the judiciary verdicts. This is where the whole operation seizes. Many of our indictments, whether penal or for violation are in judicial procedures and perhaps they will come to an end by the end of the year”, says he. According to Kostov, Macedonia has achieved high results in the battle against the piracy, thus being praised by the European Commission. “The piracy has proliferated and it has expanded just like a cancer. There is no space or a single cell free of piracy. The government did a good job regarding this issue by establishing this Coordinator Body and it is trying to protect the intellectual property”. Kostov says they are in cooperation with all the countries of the region. “We are aware of the problems and we speak of them in international workshops which are being organized to discuss such issues which have grasped the world”, he says.

The damages caused the piracy are so large. The professors’ efforts and their sweats over it idle away. This Coordinator Body, same like its component institutions are working on the denoted cases, dealing with the complaints of those whose rights have been violated. “If we receive a written complaint, we deal with it to solve it immediately. There is no complaint we haven’t solved so far”, he says by confirming an increase of complaints received..

According to the law, the punishments against the pirates are three to six thousand euros, or a minimum of three years confinement. Depending on the punishment the court will order. “Whether you find a CD or a thousand of CDs, the law is the same. We have concluded that there is no part of Macedonia free of piracy”.

The Bulgarian Pirates Seeking Shelter in Macedonia

Before the integration of Bulgaria into the European Union, many pirate materials in Macedonia were of Bulgarian origin. On the last stage of its path towards the EU, Bulgaria literally bulldozed all the pirate materials, and many individuals (some of them from Macedonia) ended up in jails. Thus, the Bulgarian pirates started to seek their shelter in the neighbouring countries. Not a long time ago, a sophisticated machinery for copying films was caught and confiscated in Strumica. “We cooperate with the neighbour countries, so we were informed that one of those machines had entered Macedonia, and an other one was in Monte Negro. Through some “canals” we found it, without having been put together”, says Kostov. He explains that after getting information about the buildings were the pirates operate, they act well organized. “What could not be done in Macedonia for 17 years, it was finished for a short time” Kostov says.

He invites the artists and the professors to protect their work as copyright, and then write a complaint to the Coordinator Body if they find out that their rights were violated or abused by anyone, for if they do not register a trademark for their “brand”, there is no way to find it.

One Person Alone Has Earned Two Million Euros from This “Business”

Kostov indicates a case in the city of Veles, where the Coordinator Body has performed a search, after having received some information. “We found everything alright, but he thanked us for checking. We asked him why, and he explained that he had been in prison for piracy in Bulgaria for two years, but had earned two million euros. This is a highly profitable business”, says Kostov. The state budget loses about 45 million euros annually.

The Pirates Proceed “Working”

Even though the police has confiscated piles of pirate materials, the very next day, in the very same spot you will see them selling the same materials again. In municipalities of Aerodrom and Auto Pazar, the Old Bazaar, the cities of Bitola, Delcevo and Veles, even after the Coordinator Body and police actions, the false CDs, DVDs and MP3 keep on being on sale. Mite Kostov, who happens to be the leader of the Coordinator Body and the number two person in the State Institution for Industrial Property at the same time, confirms the re-occurrence of the pirate sellers with the pirate materials. “We have searched all over but this is a complex matter and it has overspread”, he says. According to him, Macedonia has to do more activities on promoting the copyright violation, in order to raise the awareness of the people to help solve these issues. “We want to include the civilian segment in all this, to meet the artists, the film producers and hear their opinions and suggestions about providing a better protection.” At the moment, he says, this is physically not possible, since we can not afford to pay people who work in this department.

The experts of this field do not see the only way out of the phenomena by sequestrating the materials and prosecuting the criminals, there has to be some more promoting activities in raising the peoples consciousness about it. The experts have warned that the struggle against the piracy will be difficult and will continue for a long time, since the piracy represents the “crime of the future”.

Even now that the institutions have become more susceptible on the war against the piracy, every morning you see the pirate sellers open their stands wide. Silently and grievously from the probable “intimidations” of the inspectors, they carry on their daily “duties” by exposing the pirate CDs and DVDs, as a possibility to “survive”.

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