Movie piracy offenders are on notice after the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) revealed a 900 per cent increase in seized pirated DVDs in Australia over the past 12 months.

Speaking at the International Movie Convention on the Gold Coast on Wednesday, AFACT executive director Adrianne Pecotic attributed the huge increase in seizures to better cooperation with both federal and state police since June last year.

In December 2006, the federal government passed legislation which made it tougher for copyright pirates, and the Australian Federal Police spent $8.5 million in funding a piracy crime unit.

Ms Pecotic said 90 per cent of the 934,000 pirated movies so far seized this year were made from people illegally recording movies whilst in a cinema.

One case of piracy in Australia can result in 400,000 people around the world viewing that video, Ms Pecotic said.

She said in many cases it meant the illegal version was available on the internet 48 hours before it was released in Europe or America, before soon ending up on pirated DVDs.

Intellectual Property Awareness Trust director of communications Narelle Riley said a piracy education program involving Neighbours stars Sam Clark and Natalie Blair would be rolled out in schools.