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Jack Valenti, CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, told the BBC that the organisation is in talks with Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard to find ways of securely delivering films online.

'I really do believe that maybe by this time next year we'll be able to have the beginnings of some really sturdy, protective clothing to put about these movies,' he said.

The MPAA has recently taken steps to reduce piracy, which has seen some recent Hollywood blockbusters including Hulk and The Matrix Reloaded become available via file sharing networks before their cinema release. As we reported in September, '20 per cent of 12- to 20-year-olds said that they had downloaded a full feature film. Current estimates put the total number of downloads

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at between 350,000 and 400,000 a month.'

MPAA members, including all the major studios, recently agreed to suspend pre-release distribution of copies of films to be judged for awards such as the Oscars. Distribution only recommenced following implementation of a scheme that will identify any member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars judges) and have their membership annulled.

Further measures could be introduced if a bill introduced before the US Congress by Senators John Cornyn and Dianne Feinstein is successful.

The Artists' Rights and Theft Prevention Act, or ART Act, will penalise anyone found guilty of using a camcorder to record films as they are being shown or anyone who shares films over the Internet.

'It's simple common sense that someone who willfully provides someone else's movie, not yet available on DVD, to millions of strangers all around the world should fall within the reach of criminal copyright law,' said Valenti, in an MPAA statement backing the bill. 'This bill makes plain to those people who choose to offer such copyrighted works that don't belong to them that they do so at their peril.'

'No one has the right to walk into a movie theatre and, quite literally, "steal the show,"' he added. 'This bill would provide law enforcement with a clear-cut statute for arresting and prosecuting these criminals.'