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Six Charged with Copyright Infringement
As part of the continued effort to
crackdown on illegal DVD and CD vendors,
six persons, all charged with breaching
the Copyright Act, appeared in the
Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's
court yesterday.
The accused persons, were charged after
illegal, burnt DVDs, and compact discs
were seized during a raid by the police.
Carlington Bennett, Devon Lee, Patrick
Wickham and Anthony Brown, all pleaded
guilty to breaching the act, while
Simone Snipes and Kirk Terrelonge
pleaded not guilty.
In his defence, Brown told the court
that he does in fact sell DVDs but
denied that he was the owner of the
specific ones that were linked to his
name. He pleaded for mercy, telling RM
Pusey, "I am begging a chance. I won't
do it again. I have four kids your
honour and I am the only breadwinner in
my family. I'm begging you to be
lenient."
After a stern warning, RM Pusey told the
men, "Since it's your first offence, I'm
going to cut it [the fine]. But if you
come back, you will be in trouble, you
understand?" To this the men replied
eagerly and in unison, "Yes, your honour."
Bennett and Lee were both fined $90,000
or three months, Brown was fined
$120,000 or three months and Wickham was
ordered to pay $30,000 or serve three
months.
Snipes and Terrelonge are to reappear in
court on July 30 and both their bails
were extended.
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