Director who sold illegal TV boxes jailed 12 weeks, fined $166,200 along with his firm
SINGAPORE — A director who ran a firm selling illegal TV boxes was jailed 12 weeks on Wednesday (30 October) after he was convicted of four counts of copyright infringement.
Jia Xiaofeng was also sentenced to a fine of $5,400 for selling the so-called Android TV boxes from his electronics store Synnex Trading on Geylang Road. Synnex was fined $160,800.
Users who have the TV boxes can gain access to illegal broadcasts of Premier League football and other entertainment content.
Authorised set-top boxes have decoders which are used to stream content such as movies, television shows and sports programmes. The sale and distribution of these decoders are illegal under the Broadcasting Act.
However, Android TV boxes, which do not contain decoders, circumvent the law by using apps to stream copyrighted content.
The suit against Jia and Synnex were initiated by Neil Kevin Gane, the general manager of the Coalition Against Piracy. Gane was representing several rights owners, including local telcos SingTel and StarHub, entertainment channel Fox and the entity behind the English Premier League.
Gane had also filed the suit against Abdul Nagib Abdul Aziz, the 58-year-old director of An-Nahl, a company which was also selling illegal TV boxes.
Nagib was fined $1,200 on 24 April this year while the charges against his company were dropped. The case was considered landmark as the courts could use it to clarify the legal position on the TV boxes.
In response to the latest court decision, Kevin Plumb, Premier League Director of Legal Services, said, “This case shows there are serious consequences for sellers of illegal streaming devices and that the Premier League will prosecute those responsible for the piracy of our content. This sentencing shows that this is not a grey area, and that selling these devices is against the law.”
He added, “We have a team based in our Singapore office committed to protecting our intellectual property rights and fighting piracy and we will continue to investigate and pursue all suppliers of illegal streaming services in the region.”
Yann Courqueux, StarHub’s Vice President of Home Product, said, “Today’s ruling sends a clear and unequivocal message to distributors and sellers of pirate streaming devices, that their deeds are prohibited.
“We believe that this ruling will serve as a significant deterrent to potential retailers looking to market products which facilitate copyright infringement and hurt the creative industry. We will continue to stand against piracy to protect the intellectual property of content and copyright owners.”
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