Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 14, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The targeted raids took place at a total of seven such markets in Folmava, Zelezna, Rozadov, Asch, Waldsassen and Johanngeorgenstadt, which are operated almost without exception by Vietnamese. In the process, the Czech authorities were able to seize large quantities of pirated copies on CDs and DVDs. At just one market stand in Folmava near Furth im Wald, investigators seized about. 4,500 copies. These also included current cinema films such as, for example, German versions of “The Simpsons Movie” – five days after the cinema release in Germany.
The offerings at the more than 50 Czech border markets are aimed almost exclusively at German customers. Alongside counterfeit branded items, dealers there sell pirated films at a price of 1 to 3 euros. In nearly all cases, the source material is the pirated copies available on the Internet, which Vietnamese gangs then put onto data carriers industrially as so-called “VCDs”. The GVU has been taking action against this shadow economy together with Czech police authorities for a year in regular focused operations. Thanks to close contacts with Czech investigators and informants, the German organisation has since been able to remove a total of around 300,000 illegally produced film DVDs from the market in this way. Alongside such seizures, dismantling the infrastructure, investigating the people behind it, identifying production sites and the forensic analysis of the seized evidence are the focus of the GVU.
Christian Sommer, Chairman of the Board of the GVU, who accompanied the operation together with the GVU investigation service in the Czech Republic: “The latest success of the GVU shows that the GVU’s strategy is bearing fruit and in particular also benefits the border region battered by pirated copies. Through close cooperation with the Czech side, a strike has once again succeeded that will result in further investigations. However, additional intensive political discussion is still necessary above all – also together with the other affected branches of industry. The will to combat these illegal offerings among the Czech authorities does not seem exactly pronounced. However, this is not a German problem, but a European one.”
