The Egyptian Chamber of Film Industry has requested Interior Ministry intervention to protect Egyptian movies from piracy, said ministry official Hamdi Abdel Karim. The chamber is urging authorities to crack down on websites that offer unlicensed downloads of Egyptian movies, according to Karim. The governmental body is also requesting every police station designate an officer to prioritize movie infringement cases. The chamber has further called for having security personnel positioned in theaters to detect and thwart bootlegging operations, Karim said. He also added that a campaign launched last week aimed at curbing piracy revealed 2500 incidents of movie infringement. Mohsen Alameddin, adviser to the board of directors of the chamber, said its officials routinely have asked the ministry to put an end to copyright infringements. The new board of directors of the chamber, according to Alameddin, asked Abdel Karim to deliver the request to the Interior Minister himself. Musaad Fouda, president of the cinema syndicate, praised past efforts of the ministry in addressing copyright infringement. “Much fewer movies are being produced due to the losses producers are incurring as a result of piracy," Fouda said. "This could lead to the destruction of the cinema industry.” Translated from the Arabic Edition.
