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Australian police bust piracy ring

28 April 2008 19:24 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 10 comments

Australian Federal Police (AFP) has been commended by the anti-piracy organization for the Australian music industry, Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI) for targeting an international music piracy ring. The music piracy ring, which had an operation sourced in Sydney, distributed pirates music internationally. An organized gang in Australia are alleged to have manufactured tens of thousands of re-mixed compilation albums and distributed them through a complex network throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.

A total of eleven search warrants were executed in the raids, and one man was arrested. Among the locations raided are residential premises in Petersham and Canley Heights in Sydney, an optical disc manufacturing plant and a number of music retailers, supermarkets and other retail outlets that were selling pirate compilations featuring artists such as Justin Timberlake and UB40.

Enforcement action is also underway in New Zealand against an importer of the pirate product and a CD manufacturing plant with warning letters being sent to retailers that are stocking the pirate product.

Sabiene Heindl, General Manager of MIPI: "The actions of the Australian Federal Police reinforce their strong commitment to bringing intellectual property thieves to justice. These raids reinforce the undeniable links between piracy and criminal organizations in Australia. Attracted by the profitability of this illicit activity, criminal organizations based in Australia often control the actual manufacture and trade of pirated goods. This has ramifications not only for Australia, but also our neighbouring countries,"

Permalink to this article

Music pirate gets suspended sentence in Australia (11 September 2009)

Anti-piracy raids, court cases in Australia (2 September 2009)

PRO IP bill easily passes House of Representatives (9 May 2008)

The MPAA wants $15 Million from The Pirate Bay (8 May 2008)

New York wants stricter punishments for film pirates (6 May 2008)

Australian police carry out anti-piracy raid in Melbourne (3 April 2008)

Australian country music pirate arrested (18 October 2007)

Australian ISPs under pressure to use filters, cut off alleged pirates (2 September 2007)

Australian draft report casts doubt on piracy stats (10 November 2006)

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Discuss this article!
iluvendo (AfterDawn Addict) 28 April 2008 20:40
I hate to say it, but this sounds like glory heaped on a previous photo op. [ + quote]
psplvanub (Inactive) 29 April 2008 3:53
to bad the mipi couldnt do it themselves [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 29 April 2008 6:38
Its a breath of fresh air to see tem actually targeting the real pirates instead of college students! The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above! The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 29 April 2008 6:39
7thsinger (AfterDawn Addict) 29 April 2008 11:31
Agreed. At least this was going after real pirates. [ + quote]
DVDdoug (Junior Member) 29 April 2008 17:46
*Quote:* Its a breath of fresh air to see tem actually targeting the real pirates instead of college students! To you there is a clear difference, but to the copyright owner, there is no difference. A P2P download and a physical CD sold for money are both unauthorized copies that represent lost potential sales. [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 30 April 2008 2:06
*Quote:* *Quote:* Its a breath of fresh air to see tem actually targeting the real pirates instead of college students! To you there is a clear difference, but to the copyright owner, there is no difference. A P2P download and a physical CD sold for money are both unauthorized copies that represent lost potential sales. is a pirate a loss of a sale, who said that he/she would have purchased the given item it in the first place, this is the rhetoric that the IFPI (riaa) use to calculate their data that has been found time and again to be grossly incorrect? where as pirate rings are stealing sales by flogging their goods to customers wishing to purchase a copy, maybe if the media industry wanted to stop this happening lowering prices would be a start but nothing will come between their profit margins as making $1 is not enough when they can rip everyone off for �10. The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above! The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 30 April 2008 2:11
tripplite (Senior Member) 1 May 2008 18:59
pooor little aussy's.....didn't see it coming:/ [ + quote]
pensfan12 (Newbie) 2 May 2008 10:30
Lol the mipi, they are a sccaaarrryyyy bunch! *Originally posted by nobrainer:* Its a breath of fresh air to see tem actually targeting the real pirates instead of college students! ive never heard of the MIPI touching australian internet users let alone university students but ok!! [ + quote]
nobrainer (Inactive) 2 May 2008 10:56
*Quote:* Lol the mipi, they are a sccaaarrryyyy bunch! *Originally posted by nobrainer:* Its a breath of fresh air to see tem actually targeting the real pirates instead of college students! ive never heard of the MIPI touching australian internet users let alone university students but ok!! sry i was referring to the USA branch the RIAA (riaa, mpaa, bpi, ifpi mipi, ect all the same companies behind the trade groups) with their blanket law suits, the rest of the world isn't as easy to push about as the US gov, because of all the lobbyists backhanders to congress members from big media. The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI. The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above! The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX. [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 2 May 2008 10:58
wetsparks (Member) 2 May 2008 16:59
It's not buying off congress that is the problem, it is buying off key members of congress that have been around for 20 years that then come up to the guys who haven't been there for that long and say, do this for me or your bill won't even be mentioned, let alone voted on. And it is good to see that the people who are trying to make money off of this are getting hit and not everyone else. [ + quote]