Hong Kong Customs officers will continue to take vigorous enforcement actions against piracy activities at both the retail and production levels, said a spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department of Hong Kong Tuesday.
He made the remarks following the neutralization of two piracy syndicates engaged in the manufacturing and selling of pirated optical discs of computer games in Yuen Long and Kowloon City respectively Monday.
During the anti-piracy operations, the officers seized 170,000 HK dollars (US$21,795) worth of pirated optical discs and discs replication equipment.
According to Hong Kong's Copyright Ordinance, anyone who is found in possession of any pirated article for commercial purpose is liable to prosecution.
The maximum penalty for the offense is a fine of 50,000 HK dollars (US$6,410) per infringing article and four years' imprisonment.
Besides, the maximum penalty for possessing equipment for manufacturing pirated articles is a fine of 500,000 HK dollars (US$64,103) and imprisonment for eight years.
(China Daily May 1, 2002)
