Hong Kong Customs raided four shops in Sham Shui Po and seized 30 sets of karaoke players containing suspected infringing songs and movies worth about $100,000 in an operation on October 9. It was the first time that this kind of seizure had been made by Customs.
Seven men aged between 18 and 47, including four proprietors and three sales assistants, were arrested.
Divisional Commander (Copyright Investigation), Mr Michael Kwan, at a press briefing on the operation today (October 12) said that Customs carried out investigations after receiving reports on the sale of karaoke players stored with suspected infringing songs.
Following investigations, Customs officers raided four shops in Sham Shui Po. At two of the shops, the officers seized 19 sets of karaoke players that stored some 20,000 suspected infringing songs and eight suspected infringing movies. Each player was valued at about $5,000. In the other two shops, Customs officers seized 11 karaoke players sold together with two optical disks which stored some 50,000 suspected infringing songs at about $1,700 each.
Under the Copyright Ordinance, any person in possession of infringing copies of copyright works for the purpose of sale is liable to prosecution. The maximum penalty is four years' imprisonment and a fine of HK$50,000 per each infringing copy.
Anyone who comes across any suspected infringement activities can report to Customs by calling the 24-hour hotline 2545 6182.
Ends/Monday, October 12, 2009