Piracy shuts down fourteen Moroccan movie theaters in 2003

Fourteen movie theaters were forced to shut down in 2003 because of piracy of films that are subsequently sold at cheap prices, the Moroccan TV channel "2M" reported Tuesday.

No practical measures were taken to fight the illegal copying of films, the same source added.

"A copy of a pirated new film is sold at between 5 and 20 Dhs (US $1 = 8.7 Dhs). It is a flourishing trade for the people who are specialist in downloading films from the internet," the TV channel pointed out.

Answering a question on this phenomenon, communication minister, Nabil Benabdellah, said the crackdown on film piracy is chiefly led by the Moroccan Office for authors rights.

"We are trying to have the support of the concerned parties, particularly local authorities and the interior ministry" to cut film piracy, he went on.

Benabdellah deplored, nonetheless, that "thousands of families currently make a living through piracy" which leads to hesitations over the way to deal with this issue.