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New Straits Times
KUALA LUMPUR: A nightclub owner could be fined as much as RM56 million, one of the largest under copyright law, after 28,353 unlicensed copies of karaoke recordings were found at his outlet at Taman Permaisuri, Cheras, on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old man is also facing a maximum five years in prison if found guilty under Section 41(1) of the Copyright Act 1987.
An enforcement team from the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry raided the karaoke outlet at 9pm on Tuesday after receiving a tip-off.
Kuala Lumpur enforcement director Othman Nawang said officers seized various electronic equipment valued at RM100,000, including a digital karaoke system which had 28,353 recordings stored inside.
Karaoke units are usually imported from China and can hold between 15,000 and 30,000 songs.
"After checking with the relevant bodies, it was revealed that the karaoke owner had not obtained permission from the producers of the songs," Othman said.
Ordinarily, karaoke songs can be purchased from a legal producer for RM3 per song.
Othman said the raiding team, led by assistant copyright controller Octavia Maisi, found that the karaoke owner charged customers RM1 for each song played.
"Those who booked a room were charged RM10 an hour for the room.
"Considering the number of times a song can be played in a day, he was raking in the profits," he said.
The man's statement was recorded and he is expected to be charged soon.
"We have issued numerous warnings to commercial operators on copyright infringement," said Othman, adding that these karaoke operators cost the music industry RM60 million annually.
The authorities have recently begun coming down hard on karaoke operators for infringing copyright laws.
A bistro owner in Penang was nabbed in December for possessing a digital karaoke system containing 10,000 unlicensed recordings.
In July, a karaoke outlet owner was detained for keeping 10,000 unlicensed copies of karaoke recordings in his office in Kuala Kangsar.
In June, a woman who owned an electrical appliance outlet in Bandar Baru Bangi was found with 15,000 unlicensed recordings.
Under Section 41(1) of the Copyright Act 1987, individuals can be fined between RM2,000 and RM20,000 for each unlicensed recording found in their possession, or jailed for up to five years, or both.
In April last year, two women, one of them five months pregnant, were left shell-shocked and in tears when they were fined RM1.04 million each for possessing 520 pirated copies of DVDs and VCDs.
Salesgirls Ng Shuk Kuen, a mother of a 6-month-old baby, and Wong Chooi Fun, who was pregnant with her second child, served five months in jail after failing to pay the fine. |
