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Brunei Cracks Down On Pirated CDs
by Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, May 13 (IslamOnline) - Brunei, a tiny island nation off the island of Borneo, has started a nationwide campaign to eliminate pirated Compact Discs (CD) in the country. Audio dealers were urged on Friday to clear their shops of Video CDs and MP3 CDs from their shops.
The authorities have given them until June 30th to clear the stocks otherwise they could face a maximum of 2 years imprisonment or an unspecified fine. They have also been urged to stop the import of these CDs in pirated versions from Hong Kong.
The authorities have decided to engage the services of a former Police Chief, turned private eye, Walter Douglas Wayne Boyd, to fight the pirates.
Boyd's role will be to keep an eye on Intellectual Property infringements and nab cyber thieves and pirates. His function will also be to look into several other products where copyrights have been infringed.
Brunei decided to crack down on pirated CDs after a report by the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) conducted a survey on the seriousness of the crime in the country.
The association also represents corporate owners and record companies such as Sony, EMI, BMG, and LIFE records, to name a few.
It was learned that out of six CDs and VCDs sold in local shops, five turned out to be pirated products, while only one was genuine.
"On the whole, we would say that 98% of the products sold are pirated. We almost fainted while making a day tour on the CD and VCD shops," Malaysian officials said.
They blamed lack of enforcement in the prevention of the sale of pirated CDs. "At first we thought it was under control. However, as it was not being cleared, we had to act. It is pointless to issue warnings. We have to act," they added.
Brunei, a member of World Trade Organization (WTO), must comply with the groupings' rule to have a minimum standard to protect corporate ownership of other countries.
Earlier, the RIM team briefed some 15 local dealers on the deadline to clear pirated products.
As a result of the deadline, shops selling pirated CDs were clearing their stocks, fearing they will be left with huge stocks of products that would become unsolvable after June 30th.
In Bandar Seri Bagawan, the capital city of Brunei, the population seemed shocked by the news of the ban. Most buyers said they would not be able to afford original versions of the products, including popular Indonesian, Malay and English MP3s.
Pirated CDs in Brunei costs a mere four dollars and are affordable for many young Brunei citizens, crazy over MP3s and MTV music videos, sources said.
Some vendors, however, said it would be difficult to wipe out the sale of the pirated versions from the market. He said there will always be a way to bring in pirated CDs, but insisted the market price would not be the same.
CDs may also be imported directly from Indonesia or Malaysia, where they are still available at two dollars per unit.
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