State laws complement federal copyright laws to provide effective tools for state and local law enforcement in prosecuting theft of MPAA member company motion pictures.

Anti-Camcorder Statutes
Currently, thirty-nine states have laws against the use of a recording device in a theater, which enables state and local authorities to criminally arrest and prosecute individuals who steal movies off of the screen in theaters through use of a camcorder or other recording devices. These laws, with penalties ranging from high misdemeanors to felonies, are directly aimed at theft of movies in the theater, the number one source of illegal copies of movies for sale on the street or distribution on the Internet.

Communications Theft Laws
Nine states have state laws which complement existing state theft of cable and theft of telecommunications statutes to prohibit the theft of new digital services including MPAA member company online delivery systems. The laws prevent the unauthorized access to those services and include criminal and civil penalties.

"True Name and Address Statutes"
Forty-five states have "True Name and Address" statutes which can be used to combat video piracy. These laws impose criminal penalties for the rental or sale of pre-recorded motion pictures for home use that do not bear the true name and address of the manufacturer. Video pirates who fail to identify themselves as the "manufacturer" of illegally duplicated cassettes or discs violate these statutes.

"Electronic True Name and Address Law"
In 2004, California enacted the first "electronic true name and address law" which makes it a crime to make available for electronic dissemination or to disseminate to more than ten persons a motion picture, sound recording or video game file without including a valid e-mail address.

Trademark Law
State trademark law, which differs from state to state, is also used as a valuable tool in prosecuting those that traffic in counterfeit movies as such counterfeit movies contain misappropriated MPAA member company trademarks.