European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 5, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Videotapes containing pirated material being erased in los Angeles up to 10 percent of All tapes on the american Market Are illegal copies. Tracking Down pirated video cassettes Bylls Belkin new York times 0n a recent afternoon an average looking Man entered an average Manhattan video store and became one of in thousands of new yorkers to rent the movie top gun Lor he night. Bui uni inc the other customers this Man newer intended to watch the film a Lormer agent of the Fri now working on behalf of the Volion picture association do America he was instead looking for signs thai the tape was counterfeit As part of an undercover investigation of the store the Man who said that revealing his name would jeopardize his work is one of dozens of Assoc Ahon investigators across the country who Are Ren i ing and examining tapes documenting their findings and submitting the results la local Law enforcement agencies. In the new York area Muesli galore who Havo spent the last s x months doing just that expect their work to result in seizures of illegal tapes sometime this summer. Their efforts resulted recently in the impounding of More than 500 tapes Al three video us a. Stores in the los Angeles area and the association president Jack Valenti said More than 50 More stores in Southern California were under invest Gabon. Last year the association conducted 1.200 such invest Gallons a 40 percent jump from the year before reselling in Legal action against 92 video stores and the seizure of 29.904 illegally duplicated cassettes. The Effort which this year will Cost the association Moie than $15 million compared with $1 million four years ago. Is the pm dual of economic necessity. According to my usury estimates irom s of 10 percent of All tapes on the american Market Are illegal copies resulting in a loss to legitimate producers of $200 million to $300 million each year. Oil dido. The annual losses Are thought to be about $1 billion. The most common form of tape counterfeiting within the United states is called Back to Back copying according to William Nix director of the association s anti piracy program. Video store owners he said know thai Here will be a great demand to rent a newly released tape but that the demand wifi significantly dwindle after several months. They need 10 copies of Ramajo but they Don t want to pay $60 apiece and spend $600," said Edward Murphy a retired Fri Agen who directs the association s investigations unit. They la buy one and copy nine others for the Price of the cassette. Then when he demand Dies they la dupe another hot title on lop the result can be an unusual evening s entertainment Tor an unsuspecting customer. Last year in Mansfield. La., the association found a tape of the film Blue City thai had scenes from out Otama before the opening credits. Less common than Back to Back recordings Are copies of films thai Havo not Yel been released on video Casselle. Some new yorkers for instance have their own tapes of e t. And platoon even i Hough the companies that hold to rights to sell Hose films have not begun to do so. Many of the Bootleg copies Are of such poor Quality Aslo be a viewable and Are sold on a sheol Corners and among friends. Nix s Ollice Cabinet for instance contains a Bootleg video cassette thai was filmed in a movie theater by a Patron Silling in the audience holding a camera. Background noise includes the audience coughing crunching Popcorn and crinkling Candy wrappers. Some illegal copies however a