SALESPERSON FINED RM20,000 FOR SELLING TV BOXES WITH UNAUTHORISED ASTRO CONTENT

In accordance with Section 43AA (2) of the Copyright Act of 1987, the Ampang Session Court today prosecuted and fined salesman Leong Wei Xiang, 23, RM20,000 for selling TV sets that were pre-loaded with illegal Astro material. He admitted the allegations and paid the RM20,000 penalties.

Leong committed the offence on 21 October 2022 at an outlet at Dataran Pandan Prima, Selangor. He was found in possession of four Android TV Boxes preloaded with unauthorised content.

This year alone, Astro has filed five legal actions against piracy and copyright infringement where a total of 10 individuals were found guilty and fined accordingly.

The Copyright (Amendment) Act 2022 was gazetted on 10 February 2022. Enforcement of the law was implemented by the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) on 18 March 2022.

The key impact of the amendment is the criminalisation of the sale of illicit streaming devices (ISDs) and associated software applications that allow unauthorised access to copyright content. Anyone found guilty can be fined a minimum of RM10,000 to a maximum of RM200,000 or be imprisoned up to 20 years, or both.

The amendments to the Copyright Act followed the declaration by the Intellectual Property High Court in Kuala Lumpur in May 2021 that the sale, offer for sale, distribution and/or supply of ISDs that can provide unauthorised access to copyrighted works, constitutes copyright infringement under the Copyright Act 1987.