IT may have only been on release for a couple of days - but Star Wars II has already fallen victim to an attack of the North-East clones.

Illegal pirate copies of the eagerly awaited science fiction blockbuster film have appeared on sale at car boot sales in the region.

The speed with which the movie has been duplicated has alarmed movie industry watchdogs.

Copies of the summer's other big film - Spiderman - are also on sale in Darlington, even though it has yet to open in this country.

Although Attack of the Clones was in a plastic sleeve with a photocopied label, the Spiderman disc resembled an official DVD release.

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) - a watchdog set up by the industry to clamp down on piracy - estimates that black market copies now account for two of every ten films sold.

Watchdogs say bootleg discs are often poor quality and lack the extras that are found on official DVDs.

Because digital cameras can only record in stereo, the pirate discs cannot use the multi-channel sound that makes DVD popular with home cinema enthusiasts.

Some discs are also encoded to a different TV standard and may only play in black and white.

David Lowe, director general of Fact, said: "This is something I am tremendously concerned about. We have seized more than 60,000 films on disc this year and that is only the tip of the iceberg."