The Court of Final Appeal (CFA) today (May 18) dismissed the appeal of an appellant, who was convicted earlier and sentenced to three months' imprisonment at a magistrates' court for uploading infringing movies to the Internet by using the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing program.
The Court of Final Appeal ruled that the appellant by using the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing program to upload infringing movies to the Internet for other Internet users to download had plainly succeeded in distributing the infringing copies; hence, he was correctly convicted of the offences under the Copyright Ordinance. The court dismissed the appeal.
The Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Excise, Mr Tam Yiu-keung, today (May 18) said, "Hong Kong Customs welcomes the ruling of CFA. The judgment confirms that uploading of infringing copies of copyright works to the Internet by using the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing program for downloading by other Internet users is a criminal offence under the Copyright Ordinance."
"The ruling will generate a strong deterrent effect on Internet piracy activities," he added.
Hong Kong Customs will continue its 24-hour monitoring of infringement activities on the Internet, in particular, copyright piracy involving the use of peer-to-peer file-sharing programmes.
Under the Copyright Ordinance, a person commits an offence if he/she, without the licence of the copyright owner, distributes an infringing copy of a copyright work otherwise than for the purpose of trade or business to such an extent as to affect prejudicially the owner of the copyright. The maximum penalty is a fine of $50,000 per infringing copy and an imprisonment for four years.
Hong Kong Customs reminds the public to stay away from copyright infringement activities on the Internet. In case people come across any suspected online piracy activities, they are encouraged to report to the Customs by calling the 24-hour hotline 2545 6182.
Ends/Friday, May 18, 2007