The Customs & Excise Department has told young people not to be lured into selling counterfeit goods and not to distribute pirated works through peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing or auction fake goods online.

Intellectual Property Investigation Support Divisional Commander Louis Lee said Customs saw a need to warn young people that any unlawful infringing activities will lead to criminal investigations and penalty.

"Offenders will have a criminal record. It is a wrong perception that infringing activities on the Internet could easily evade Customs detection," he said.

Last year, Customs arrested 206 people aged 21 and below for contravening the Copyright Ordinance and another 50 the same age for contravening the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.

In the first five months of this year, 59 people under 21 were arrested under the Copyright Ordinance while another seven were arrested under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.

In terms of Internet piracy, two people aged 21 and below were arrested in 2004 under the Copyright Ordinance; while one person aged 21 and below was arrested under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance.

Under the Copyright Ordinance, any person who commits an offence may be liable to a fine of $50,000 for each infringing copy found in their possession, and imprisonment for four years.

Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, a person who has in his possession for sale or for any purpose of trade any goods to with a false trade description or bearing a false trade mark may be liable to a maximum fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for five years.

To heighten youngsters' awareness of the importance of protecting intellectual property rights, Customs has posted a cartoon onto the website of the Intellectual Property Rights Protection Alliance, www.iprpa.org.

Customs established the alliance in March, 2004, to provide a platform of co-operation with the IPR industry to monitor and crack down on IPR infringing activities more effectively.  It also educates the public on IPR protection.

Letters will be issued to 1,300 primary and secondary schools appealing for their support in encouraging their students to visit the alliance's website, and disseminating the message of IPR protection through their school activities in the new academic year.