Thursday, September 11, 2008

Illegal Olympic DVD being sold

Jamaica's performance at the recently concluded Olympic Games in Beijing, China, is being sold illegally on a DVD in downtown Kingston and Half-Way Tree, St Andrew.

Despite obvious copyright infringements, vendors have been selling the DVD for $100.

The demand for the item is so great that when THE STAR checked the first four vendors, they claimed to be "out of stock".

"Bway, yu late; mi don. Check further dung di line cause mi out a stock ya now. Dem a sell fast; about 10 mi sell from day," one vendor said.

The vendors say that the DVD was made available for sale about a week ago and has been in great demand since.

"Da DVD ya is like a collector's edition, eno. Everybody want one. A whole heap a people a request dem," one female vendor, Iris, told THE STAR yesterday after the DVD was finally obtained.

The front of the DVD bears an image of Asafa Powell receiving the baton from Usain Bolt in the final of the 4 x 100 metres relay event for men.

'100 % JAMAICAN'

The cover is labelled 'Beijing 2008' and has other inscriptions such as '100 % JAMAICAN' and 'THE SPRINT FACTORY'.

The one-hour-and-40-minute-long DVD was recorded from the broadcast of a Jamaican television station and shows the 100- and 200-metre events for men and women, the 400-metre race for women, the 4 x 100 metre event for men, the 4 x 400-metre event for men and women and the women's 400-metre hurdles.

At the end of the DVD, Jimmy Cliff's Harder They Come is played in the background, while messages, such as 'Beijing 2008 Jamaica Sprint Factory', 'Jamaica Rules the World' and 'History, Ours to Remember' are flashed across the screen.

When THE STAR spoke to the police about the DVD they said they were not aware of it but they would be conducting investigations.

Name changed.

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