KEY POINTS:
A 42-year-old Auckland man is facing multiple charges after police raided a city centre internet cafe for the second time in three months.
HTC internet Cafe's sole director Yongming Nie faces 34 offences against the Copyright Act 1994.
The raids follow investigations by the New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft (NZFact), representing the Motion Picture Association in New Zealand (MPA).
The charges are understood to involve HTC providing facilities where members of the public, upon payment of fees, were viewing movies on computer terminals.
It was suspected that the movies were reproduced and shown without the permission of copyright owners, breaching a number of rules under New Zealand's copyright law.
NZFact investigators visited HTC a number of times in January, following Nie's appearance in court on charges arising from an earlier police raid.
These enquiries confirmed the availability of a wide variety of movies including Iron Man, What Happens In Vegas and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
"It is disappointing to see this suspected criminal activity continuing despite earlier police action," said Tony Eaton, executive director of NZFact. "The illegal distribution of movies, whether on DVD or through the internet, damages our domestic movie production and distribution businesses.
"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was filmed here in New Zealand so it is particularly disappointing to see it being illegally distributed."
Nie is now helping police with enquiries in relation to the latest raid on HTC.
The earlier raid, on November 25, led to Nie appearing in Auckland District Court on 21 charges relating to the importation, possession and distribution of copyrighted works. He is on bail for those offences and scheduled to appear in Auckland District Court on February 20.
A study by independent research firm LEK Consulting on behalf of the MPA showed piracy cost the film industry in New Zealand an estimated 25 per cent of the potential market in 2005 - $70 million.
Internet piracy via P2P file-sharing networks accounts for the majority of New Zealand movie industry losses, an estimated $33 million in lost consumer spending in 2005.
- NZPA
