Thursday, February 15, 2007

Selling four pirated DVD online - fined RM8,000.

TheStar online reported that an IT expert was fined RM8,000 under the Copyright Act 1987 for selling four pirated DVDs in the Internet.

I believe this also apply to the selling of photocopied books over the Internet. This is one of the legal issue related to e-commerce.


IT expert fined RM8,000 for offering to sell four pirated DVDs

PENANG: An IT expert was fined RM8,000 after he pleaded guilty in the Sessions Court here to three counts of offering to sell four pirated DVDs over the Internet.

Poh Wee Leng, 30, from Petaling Jaya, was fined RM2,000 for each infringing copy while his friend, Huan Su Ling, 25, who was jointly charged with him, was freed after the prosecution withdrew the charges against her. ....

Poh, who is currently pursuing a Masters Degree in Business Administration, admitted on Friday to committing the offences at a house at Solok Tembaga Dua in Island Park here at about 1pm on Oct 12.

He and Huan had claimed trial when they were first charged on Oct 17.

The four titles of the pirated DVDs were Garfield: Tale of Two Kitties, Garfield, The Da Vinci Code and Mean Girl.

The two Garfield titles were stated in the first charge.

The offence under the Copyright Act 1987 carries a fine of RM2,000 to RM20,000 per copy or maximum five years jail or both.

Judge Hadhariah Syed Ismail ordered Poh to serve a total jail term of 18 months if he failed to pay the fine.

Poh, who was represented by R.S.N. Rayer, paid up.


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