The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) is equipping cinema ushers with night vision goggles and training them to spot people illegally taping films.

The scheme is being trialled in Malaysia as part of an attempt to stop new releases being filmed and sold on DVD or put on peer-to-peer networks.

Malaysian authorities are attempting to crack down on movie piracy ahead of wider free trade talks.

Nor Hayati Yahaya, the MPAA's manager for Malaysia, told Reuters that the night-vision goggles had been "very successful".

The MPAA has also imported two DVD sniffing dogs which have found more than a million DVDs and been instrumental in shutting down a piracy ring. The dogs have been so successful that a bounty has reportedly been placed on their heads.

Similar dogs are already in use at Stansted airport sniffing packages for DVDs being imported or exported illegally.