If piracy is illegal in Mauritius, why are shops selling illegal copies of movies not closed down by the police?

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There's an Anti Piracy Unit (APU) in operation since 2001 and they are supposed to be dealing with breach of copyrights and other trademark infringement. However I've noticed that a number of shops selling pirated movies operate in major cities (Port-Louis, Rose-Hill etc). It's not like the shops are well hidden but they do business in prominent places, have store fronts where you can easily see the latest movies on display and this really surprises me.

For instance Avengers which is still playing at the cinema and not yet released on DVD can be bought for Rs50.

Why are these sellers not sued?

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Khush_Mendossa Level 3

I once went to Caserne Central Port-Louis some years ago. There, I went to see the IT department or something like that.

I asked them the same question. They told me that they don't take action because the authors of the films do no have a representative in Mauritius. For instance, Warner Bros does not have any representative here. So no one officially registers a complaint against the shops and so on. Even if an individual (common Mauritian) makes a complaint, they do no have enough representative power to do so.

Whereas if a shop is selling a pirated Mauritian cd, there is the MASA which takes action as it represents the artists here in Mauritius.

gices Level 6

I thought it had something to do with the high level of corruption in the country and thought the shop owners were bribing the police. Thanks for the outstanding answer.