Jail for Sim Lim Square seller of illegal streaming devices
A man who sold illegal streaming devices at Sim Lim Square was sentenced to 10 months’ jail in the first such prosecution of its kind.
On Oct 24, Ge Xin, 37, admitted to infringing the copyright of works owned by organisations including Disney, Netflix, Paramount Pictures and the Football Association Premier League.
Top Gun: Maverick, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore and an English Premier League (EPL) match between Liverpool and Manchester City were among the content available on the illegal streaming devices.
Ge Xin, a Singaporean, sold the devices that could allow users to unlawfully gain access to such copyrighted works. His two shops at Sim Lim Square, MT Gadget+ and Grandnew, were fined $200,000 and $100,000 respectively under the Copyright Act.
The conviction of Ge Xin and his companies were the first such prosecutions under Section 150 of the Copyright Act, which targets copyright infringement by commercial dealers of illegal streaming devices, the Premier League said in a statement.
This comes after simultaneous raids on retail shops in Sim Lim Square in October 2022 by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department.
Four women and 13 men were arrested for their suspected involvement in the sale of these devices. More than 2,500 of them, valued at about $500,000, were seized.
Illegal streaming devices are typically pre-installed with computer programs to allow unauthorised access to copyrighted work.
But they come with risks, as some contain malware, which can expose users to cyber threats like online scams.
In the case of Ge Xin and his companies, Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong said that in 2020 and 2021, Grandnew had received three letters from the Premier League to stop selling the illegal devices as they had infringed its copyright.
DPP Ong said although Ge Xin read the letters, he continued to authorise his companies to sell the devices.
MT Gadget+, which began selling such devices in 2018, sold each for around $115 to $220 and the profit margin for each gadget was around $43 to $80, said the DPP.
Grandnew sold the devices in 2018 and earned a monthly profit of about $5,000.
In October 2022, both shops were raided and 499 illegal streaming devices were seized.
In his submissions, DPP Ong urged the court to impose deterrent sentences to signal clearly to the industry and the public that selling such devices will carry serious legal consequences.
He said: “This will also be consistent with Singapore’s efforts to strengthen our position as a global intellectual property hub and maintain our position as a top-ranked intellectual property regime.”
Defence lawyer S.S. Dhillon said Ge Xin’s role was limited solely to purchasing the devices online and selling them.
The lawyer said his client was a small-time operator who was not involved in any sophisticated business plan set out to avoid detection.
In March, the Premier League obtained an order from Singapore’s High Court to force internet service providers to block access to 25 websites that illegally stream football matches.
Since the 2018-2019 season, a total of 673 domains have been blocked in Singapore by the Premier League.
On Oct 24, Premier League general counsel Kevin Plumb highlighted the significance of this case, saying it confirmed there are serious consequences for those supplying unauthorised access to Premier League football.
He said: “We welcome this landmark prosecution, which is the result of detailed investigations carried out in collaboration with the Singapore Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Intellectual Property Rights Branch of the Singapore Police Force.”
He said the prosecutions followed the raids in 2022, and this case was the first of many to emerge from those raids.
He added: “The safest and best way for fans in Singapore to watch Premier League action is via authorised broadcast partner channels.”
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