KEEPING UP WITH THE PIRATES.

Karen Faux checks out the anti-piracy measures companies are now developing to protect their products

THE YEAR 2000 was an exceptionally good one for the global disc-manufacturing sector, with CD and DVD production rising to a record 10bn units, according to the International Recording Media Association (Irma). While boosting business continues to be about offering quality products, sophisticated logistics and a personal service, the ability to provide effective anti-piracy measures is now also a vital sales dimension.

The BPI's Anti-Piracy Unit estimates that more than 14.6m [pounds sterling] was lost in the UK alone during 1999 and factories are expected to play an increasingly important role in the industry's damage limitation exercise. Irma's recently established anti-piracy compliance programme has proved important for establishing an international bench-mark. While US plants were among the first to meet the assocation's regulations, compliance is now spreading across Europe and it is expected that companies in South America and Asia will come on board in the not too distant future.

Irma's guidelines cover many stipulations in relation to various formats, but an over-riding requirement is that a source code must be included in the production of all audio and video glass masters. It is this which ultimately allows the disc to be identified with its copyright owner. Another key guideline is that factories must have access to recognised internet database services -- such as Locis, Copyright Office or Muze -- which will enable them to verify copyright ownership before or during the production process.

At Midem, Disctronics will be trumpeting the fact that it now has Irma accreditation at its sites in the US and UK, while its factories in France and Italy are currently completing the programme. "We are delighted to receive the Irma licence at our Southwater plant and especially so given that we are the first plant in Europe to do so," says Peter Wallace, Disctronics vice president, security and compliance. "It re-iterates our long-standing commitment to anti-piracy procedures."

Disctronics currently employs the Macrovision SafeDisc copy protection technique but says it is prepared to support new safeguards as they are introduced. In the past year Wallace has worked hard to educate both employees and clients about the anti-piracy initiatives being implemented in the US and the company has also won anti-piracy accreditation from the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) and the European Leisure Software Publishers' Assocation (Elspa).

"Giving customers the assurances they need when it comes to ...