MARKET STALL MOVIE PIRATE JAILED FOR 9 MONTHS
1 May, 2009
download as PDFImmediate custodial sentence sends clear message to movie pirates
Sydney: On 30 April, at Burwood Local Court in Sydney, Mr Qing Wang, 45, was sentenced to an immediate custodial sentence of nine months after he pleaded guilty to 25 copyright crimes. The sentence took into account that Wang had just finished a community service order for similar copyright offences and Magistrate Pierce ordered that Wang was not to be released before 29th January 2010.
The case against Wang arose from raids by New South Wales Police on weekend markets in South West Sydney where movie pirates were suspected of possessing and selling pirated movie DVDs. On 18 May 2008, Maroubra Police, assisted by investigators from the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), raided the weekend market at Kingsford, seizing over 300 pirated movie DVDs from a stall operated by Wang. At the time of the raid, Wang was serving a community service order following a previous conviction for copyright crimes for selling pirated movies at Darling Markets in February 2007.
In a separate but related matter, Wang’s wife, Ms Min Huang, was arrested on the same day as her husband (18 May, 2008) after a police raid by Campsie Police resulted in the seizure of hundreds of pirated movie DVDs from a stall in Anglo Mall Markets operated by Ms Huang. A follow-up police raid on Mr Qing Wang and Min Huang’s Campsie residence resulted in the seizure of a DVD burner operation, additional pirated DVDs and large sums of cash. Ms Huang subsequently pleaded guilty and was convicted on 18 copyright offences and six classification offences and is scheduled to appear at Burwood court on 5th May.
"The movie and TV industries make a significant contribution to Australian jobs and our economy and need the protection of strong laws, effective enforcement and deterrent sentencing," said Neil Gane, Director of Operations at AFACT, commenting on the convictions. “We are at a tipping point and jail terms like yesterdays sentence are now without doubt the only way the Courts can provide the strong deterrence needed to stop such profitable and damaging crimes."
About AFACT
AFACT works closely with industry, government, police and educational institutions to address copyright theft and protect the interests of the film and television industry as well as the interests of Australian movie fans.
In 2008, state and federal police conducted 51 raids involving movie piracy and seized 544,697 pirated DVDs. They also seized 488 burners capable of producing 12 million pirated DVDs a year with a potential street value of over $61million.
AFACT acts on behalf of the 50,000 Australians and small businesses under threat from copyright theft, including independent cinemas, video rental stores and film and television producers across the country.
Contact:
For interviews with Neil Gane, AFACT, contact:
Stephen Jenner: (02) 9997 8011
After hours: 0409 776 196
info@afact.com.au
www.afact.com.au
