A 51-year-old woman and two men, aged 22 and 26, have been jailed for up to 55 months by the District Court for offences including conspiracy to make and sell pirated discs, forging trade marks and money laundering. This is the first copyright piracy case in which counterfeiters have also been prosecuted for money laundering.

They were arrested July 7, 2004, for operating a pirated disc-replicating workshop, three storage centres and eight retail outlets. In the operation, more than 50,000 pirated discs, three sets of replicating machines, 11 sets of computers and two sets of high-speed copier-printers were seized, totalling about $1.5 million.

Customs then took the unprecedented step of applying for a restraint order under the Organised & Serious Crimes Ordinance to freeze $27 million worth of assets suspected to be proceeds derived from sales of pirated discs under the syndicate's control.

Customs & Excise Department Special Task Force Group Head Albert Chan said since the scheduling of the Copyright Ordinance under the Organised & Serious Crimes Ordinance in 2000, this was the first copyright piracy case in which the offenders were prosecuted for money laundering.

$27m in frozen assets to be forfeited

"The sentence passed at the District Court is encouraging to Customs' anti-piracy work. It has conveyed a clear message to pirates that their illegitimate deals are not accepted by the community at large and will lead to severe punishment."

In accordance with the District Court's verdict, Customs is preparing documents for making an application to the High Court for forfeiture of the frozen assets of $27 million.

Subsequent to this case, Customs has invoked the Organised & Serious Crimes Ordinance in the prosecution of five more cases related to infringement of intellectual property rights and frozen assets of $74 million.