THIS IS FOR BUYERS IN THE UK (but may be useful to anyone.)

I have recently bought another DVD that is DEFINITELY a bootleg (the codes on the disc don't match the codes on the sleeve and the disc is the wrong colour). The seller could not give a monkey's swinging bits.

I have just been on the phone to both Trading Standards and Consumer Direct. They both assured me that if I return the pirated/bootlegged DVD to the seller then I may be guilty of 'distributing illegal copies'. The advice in the Answer Centre to return items to the seller may be encouraging people to break the law (however unwittingly)!

There are two solutions to this.

1) Give up and accept that I have lost my money. All of 99p. Oh no!

2) Dig my feet in. Decide that I am sick of this and report the seller to eBay, PayPal, Trading Standards, Consumer Direct and/or FACT.

FACT is the easiest, believe it or not. There is a really easy form to fill out at this address:- http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/site/contact/com_form.htm

As I am sure you can guess, number 2 is the route I am taking. I would recommend that, if you buy an illegal copy of a film (or an album), you should first contact the seller. He/she may be willing to refund your money without return of the item (with the understanding that you will be contacting FACT and/or Consumer Direct). Any reasonable person would! They may themselves have been duped into buying the copied album or film. Ask them where they bought the DVD/CD. If they are honest (and can remember!), they should have no problem giving you this information. If this doesn't work, simply phone eBay for help and/or open a PayPal claim.

YOU MUST NOT distribute or sell the material yourself or you are just as guilty!

99p may not seem like much but every bootlegged DVD/CD sold adds to the cost of genuine DVDs/CDs. 99p multiplied by a million is a lot of money! If everyone reported these traders and private sellers (essentially thieves), there would be very little (if any) reward incentive.

ILLEGAL COPIES INCREASE THE PRICE OF GENUINE COPIES FOR ALL. You are NOT getting a 'good deal'. Illegal copies are forcing record labels and movie studios to sign only those artists (or make only those movies) that have mega multi-million selling potential.

THEY DAMAGE THE ARTS. If you respect the art, why rip-off the artist?

I would recommend that you should ALWAYS contact FACT and/or Consumer Direct. That is what they are there for. They have never asked me to send them the discs but do ask for any information you have on the seller to aid in their investigation.

DON'T ACCEPT ILLEGAL COPIES! ALWAYS REPORT THEM!

On the other hand you could keep the DVD or CD and accept that movie studios, record labels, musicians, artists, etc. that you like will go out of business and never produce anything ever again. The choice is yours, as they say.

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Just to prove my point, here is an interesting quote from the FACT website at - http://www.fact-uk.org.uk/site/about/faq.htm

"After the United States of America, the United Kingdom is the second worst affected market for DVD piracy. In 2005 FACT seized over 2 million pirate DVDs and online FACT removed 26,000 items from sale on auction sites and halted 114 infringing websites.

For those engaged in this form of criminal activity, DVD/film piracy is estimated to be worth over £400 million a year. It is also estimated to cost the British film, broadcasting and associated industries billions of pounds a year in lost revenues and jobs."

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If you found this helpful, hit the appropriate button so that this guide creeps up the list and can help as many honest buyers as possible :)