Fake-DVD seller gets 15-month jail term

By PAUL BRISLEN

A South Auckland man has been jailed for 15 months for selling pirated DVDs.

Zheng Wang, 20, was caught with 10 illegally copied movies at the Otahuhu markets in September. He also had $485.10 in cash.

At the sentencing, Judge David Harvey said Wang had shown no remorse for his actions and was potentially part of a much larger operation. "You are distributing them either for your own purposes or as part of a commercial operation."

The Manukau District Court judge said the premeditation involved and Wang's conviction only weeks before for a similar offence meant a jail term was justified and he would not consider home detention.

Wang had admitted a charge involving a forged DVD, and escaping from custody.

He was sentenced to 15 months' jail on each charge, the terms to run concurrently.

The DVDs involved were ordered to be destroyed.

Motion Picture Association spokesman Kevin Holland is pleased with the outcome.

"We put considerable resources into this area and we enjoy the full co-operation of the police and other agencies involved."


He said it was the first time a jail sentence had been imposed. Legal firm AJ Park deals with cases of piracy on behalf of the Customs Service and litigation partner Kim McLeod said his office got at least one call a day about pirated movies being imported.

"Either they're brought in hidden in a suitcase or they're sent through the post.

"If Customs catches them they're referred to us."

The potential fines for an offender under the Copyright Act are up to $10,000 for every infringing copy up to $150,000 and up to five years in jail.

However, Mr McLeod said if the offender co-operated and handed over receipts or invoices as well as the movies, they would be let off with a warning.

He said that while there were a lot of personal offenders, the commercial end of the market was very much alive.

"There's definitely that element involved, yes. We've seen up to 150 DVDs brought in at a time. That sort of thing."

Movie company Columbia Tristar's general manager, Andrew Cornwell, said many people did not consider copying movies to be a crime.

"They're stealing the copyright rather than an actual physical product but it's on a par with walking into a retailer and taking it off the shelf without paying."

Mr Cornwell said the conviction was a "wake up call" and described DVD copying as one of the single biggest threats to the movie industry.