Under the "Fast Action Scheme", Customs officers cracked a total of 12 cases, leading to the seizure of about $9,400 worth of copyright infringing toys and the arrest of 13 persons at the "Hong Kong Toys and Games Fair 2007" held from January 8 to 11 (yesterday).
This was the third time that the Scheme was implemented by Hong Kong Customs and Hong Kong Brands Protection Alliance (HKBPA) in large-scale exhibition in Hong Kong.
Commenting on the close cooperation with the Alliance, the Head of Intellectual Property Investigation (Operations) Group, Mr Edmond Cheng, said today (January 12), "With the full support from HKBPA, Hong Kong Customs officers are able to speed up the investigation and prosecution process, which is critical to suppressing copyright infringement activities in which offenders might attempt to take advantage of the short exhibition period factor.
"Most of the exhibitors are law-abiding; and exhibitions infringement activities are not serious in Hong Kong. We believe more and more HKBPA members are getting well aware of the Fast Action Scheme, and have filed IPR (intellectual property rights) information of their products to the Alliance's database before holding exhibition. Hence, Hong Kong Customs could make use of their database to launch fast investigations." Mr Cheng said.
Any person who contravenes the Copyright Ordinance is liable to prosecution. The maximum penalty is a fine of $50,000 for each infringing copy and imprisonment for four years upon conviction.
Ends/Friday, January 12, 2007