The chairman and chief executive of News Corp's European and Asian operations made the statement at the three-day Abu Dhabi Media Summit that ends on Thursday.
"We need enforcement mechanisms and we need governments to play ball," he said. "It's a basic condition for investment and economic growth and there should be the same level of property rights whether it's a house or a movie."
Murdoch took a tough stand on online piracy and said that future growth would come from original content production.
He announced that News Corp may take legal action against content aggregating websites such as Google to protect its copyrights.
