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Customs officers from the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau raided photocopying shops to deter infringing reprographic copies of books on February 8 and 9.
Following earlier complaints from representatives of copyright owners on suspected illicit photocopying activities, Customs officers conducted intensive investigations.
In the operation, Customs officers seized 210 infringing photocopies of books and 4 photocopying machines from 4 shops in Sheung Shui, Fanling and Tsz Wan Shan. The total seizure was worth about $50,000.
The infringing copies seized included university textbooks, Hong Kong A-level Examination past papers and children's music books.
Three men and 2 women aged between 44 and 50 were arrested. They were the owners or employees of the shops.
To evade Customs detection, these shop owners usually asked customers to go back after one or two days to avoid photocopying the unauthorised copies right away.
A Customs spokesman reminded the public, with shop owners and staffs of photocopying shops in particular, to stay away from illicit photocopying activities.
Under the Copyright Ordinance, it is an offence for a person to possess, for the purpose of or in the course of a profit-making copying service business, an infringing copy of a copyright work as published in a book, magazine or periodical. The maximum penalty is a fine of $50,000 per infringing copy and four years' imprisonment.
Hong Kong Customs and the Hong Kong Reprographic Rights Licensing Society have launched a reward scheme to encourage the public to provide information on activities involving illegal photocopying of books.
Members of the public can provide information by calling the Customs 24-hour hotline 2545 6182. All information of the informants will be kept confidential.
Ends/Friday, February 9, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:21
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