Pirates copy Oscar judges' DVDs

The Lord of the Rings films are hugely popular

Pirated copies of the latest Lord of the Rings DVD are flooding into the UK after they were made from a disc sent to Oscar judges.

Voters for the Academy Awards are sent copies of all the films in the running, but it is under the strict condition that they are not copied in any way.

More than 10,000 illegal reproductions of the fantasy film have already been seized in Britain, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) said.

Fact said these direct digital copies were a much better quality than traditional pirated movies, which are usually made using a handheld video camera to record the film during a screening.

The films tells an epic tale of good and evil

The only thing which gives their origins away is a "for your consideration" Academy Award message that pops up every 15 minutes.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the second in director Peter Jackson's trilogy of films adapted from the globally popular books by JRR Tolkien.

It is currently up for nine Bafta nominations and has proved to be a box office smash - but it is not expected to be released on DVD in the UK until August, with a special edition planned for November.

Pirated copies of other Oscar hopefuls, including Gangs of New York and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, are also widespread, Fact added.

"I think it is extremely disappointing that people involved in the industry have let copies of Academy screeners go astray," Fact's director general David Lowe told the Hollywood Reporter.

Cate Blanchett and Elijah Wood are among the stars

The spread of piracy has made some distributors wary of supplying copies to members of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) ahead of the 23 February awards, because of fears there could be further piracy.

MPAA chief Jack Valenti blamed the piracy on "corrupt" individuals, saying: "This is all part of the perils and the hazards of going into the digital world."

"It's happened before, it will happen again. But we will find a way to thwart these thieves."