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RCMP and York Police Arrest DVD Pirates

By Chris Bennett, Tudor Carsten, Michael R. Coburn, Sarah Dale-Harris, Pablo Guzman, Danielle (Dani) Lemon, Chris Metcalfe and David Spratley

Much criticism has been leveled at Canada regarding its copyright laws; however, the news isn't all bad. Following a six-month investigation, the RCMP and York Police, in a collaborative effort, have arrested five men (Huici Chen, 36, Chung Ping Pang, 37, Tongjin Chen, 62, all from Markham, Ya Ouyang, 29, of Scarborough and Huixin Chen, 27, of Brampton) for multiple breaches of the Canadian Copyright Act for pirating movies including "Slumdog Millionaire", the "Curious case of Benjamin Button" and "James Bond: Quantum of Solace".

You might remember that in Louis Vuitton Malletier S. A. v. 486353 BC Ltd. et al (2008 BCSC 799), the Supreme Court of Canada sent a strong message to infringers of among other things, copyright, by awarding statutory damages of $20,000 per work, and $300,000 (total) in punitive and exemplary damages which were awarded (jointly and severally) against the defendant corporation and two employees.

If convicted, the five men in this most recent case could face fines of up to one million dollars and/or imprisonment of up to five years.

http://www.thestar.com/gta/crime/article/630068

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Full post as published by Video Game Law Blog on May 19, 2009 (boomark / email).