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| A party room in Causeway Bay was one of the premises raided |
Customs officers announced Friday that they arrested 18 people in connection with the alleged unlicensed streaming of karaoke songs to party rooms and restaurants, in breach of copyright laws.
The arrests were made in a series of raids on venues between July 2 and 25, during which 39 karaoke song players and four gaming devices, as well as a number of audio and video equipment were seized. The items were valued at around $1.1 million.
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| PINDUTIN DITO |
Those arrested included seven people manning the venues, six company directors, and five shop proprietors. Two of them were charged with violating the Copyright Ordinance while the rest were released on police bail.
According to the police it was the first time customs had cracked down on people suspected of providing karaoke songs via online streaming without the requisite permit.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
Traditionally, he said karaoke players used in party rooms or other venues were preloaded with songs that infringe copyright laws.
In this case, the infringing karaoke songs were stored in a data centre, which sent them on to party rooms through online streaming.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
Those raided were 31 party venues and one restaurant located in various districts, including Causeway Bay, Kwun Tong, Tsuen Wan and Mong Kok.
Customs said one of the party room owners was found to have falsely claimed that the venue was licensed to screen movies and television programs for customers.
The owner was charged with engaging in false trade descriptions in the course of its business activities, in violation of the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
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