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Stiffer jail terms as war on pirates stepped up Jane Moir, South China Morning Post, Nov. 8, 2000 Judges are handing out longer jail terms to copyright pirates, and Hong Kong's top prosecutor is warning businesses are next. A law will come into force next year to clamp down on corporations using pirated software in their daily operations. It is one of several initiatives to stamp out piracy dubbed "drastic, even draconian", but necessary by Director of Public Prosecutions Grenville Cross, SC. "We could not allow Hong Kong to acquire the stigma of being a place which tolerated such a [piracy] situation," he said. Hong Kong's reputation has improved as a result, he claims -- officials in the United States have indicated that the SAR will remain off their "watch list" of cities where piracy is rife. This has partly been possible because Hong Kong courts have taken a harsher stance against pirates, Mr. Cross explained at an Asian Symposium on intellectual property rights. While two years ago one in three copyright culprits were put behind bars, the figure has increased to six out of 10. The overall number of convicted copyright pirates has also swollen. A total of over 245 people received prison terms for copyright offences in 1997, rising to 496 the following year and 641 last year. Maximum penalties range from four years imprisonment for the possession of infringed copyright works to eight years for making copies of this infringed work. The number has leapt to 909 so far this year. Just over half of these were jailed for between six and 12 months, with 76 receiving sentences of more than a year. Overall, these represent significantly longer jail terms. In 1997, less than one in three culprits received prison terms of between six and 12 months. It is now nearly doubled to 58.2 per cent of offenders. Similarly, jail terms for trade mark and trade description offences have increased, with one in three culprits now behind bars for six to 12 months, compared with less than one in five in 1997. Moreover, the prosecutions department has applied to increase sentences in a number of cases. In terms of corporate piracy, "once the Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Ammendments Bill) is enacted next year, we will be in a strong position to penalise businesses which use pirated software in their daily operations", Mr. Cross said yesterday. Corporations were singled out as the worst offenders in a recent software piracy report, with half of all applications installed in the SAR being illicit. The Business Software Alliance estimates software piracy in Hong Kong cost businesses US$110 million last year, with the rate of counterfeiting running 20 per cent higher than the global average. A recent study by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimated copyright piracy in the SAR to be running at about 50 per cent, down from 70 per cent. The cost to the industry is in the range of US$25 million. In China, the figure is as high as US$620 million, according to the report. |
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