Movies on Web 'leaked from studios'

From January last year to June this year, a team of researchers from AT&T Laboratories and the University of Pennsylvania tracked the top 50 movies in the US box office uploaded to file sharing networks, according to a report in New Scientist.

They found that 77 percent of the files were created during the films' production and distribution.

Some were obviously pre-release versions because they were leaked online before cinema release, said the report. Others had telltale signs indicating they originated from a preview copy, such as copyright text across the screen or uncropped frames.

The findings suggest that the movie studios should tighten security around the recorded material before cinema release, said the researchers.

In total, 95 percent of the files appeared online before their DVD release, according to the New Scientist.

Movie studios are testing technologies that will keep people from making copies of DVDs, hoping to learn from the misfortunes of the recording industry. They are also using the courts to block companies releasing DVD copying software.

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has filed 261 lawsuits against computer users it said were exclusively "egregious" file swappers.

The findings support facts discovered by copyright owners in the fight against DVD and VCD piracy in Asia. Pirated discs were appearing in Asian shops weeks or months before the movies' cinema release.

In a bid to stop people from illegally taping Disney's latest cartoon, the aquatic adventure "Finding Nemo", in the US, security guards are using night-vision goggles and metal detectors to look for patrons with digital cameras.

According to statistics released by the Motion Picture Association, Singapore’s domestic DVD piracy losses in 2002 totalled $8m (£5m), dwarfed by losses of $168m in China and $110m in Japan.