Anti-piracy efforts of gaming industry have been very succesful last year

The annual report of the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) shows that the video game industry  in North America has been quite succesful in their battle against piracy. In 2010, more than 40 criminal cases and numerous convictions for modifying game consoles, distribution of illegal copies and downloading pirated content have been listed.

The ESA report also listed numerous activities of the association in support of copyright protection, for example law enforcement training sessions and providing assistance to intellectual property law enforcement in other countries. ESA educated over 1,800 law enforcement officials in Canada, Mexico and the U.S., last year, updating them on the latest methods for detecting and identifying computer game piracy. In addition, ESA sponsored an intellectual property law awareness campaign in Singapore. ESA also assisted the copyright enforcement authority in South Korea with the implementaton of their graduated response policy.

The association discloses that people engaging in game software piracy are risking serious penalties nowadays. For example, cases of game console sabotage in the U.S. resulted in 10 months of house arrest, followed by two years of probation and a fine of $1,800 in one instance, and in another case, a four month house arrest, four years of probation and 50 hours of community service was given for one count of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

In the course of 2010, ten thousands of pirated games have been seized, especially in Mexico City and in the Canadian province of Quebec. For a detailed overview of the results of ESA’s anti piracy action, see the Annual Report, from page 12 onwards.

References: Kotaku.com; The Entertainment Software Association, Annual Report 2010