James Delahunty
5 May 2005 8:57
Using four search warrants at the Pacific Mall on Steeles Avenue in Markham, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized about $800,000 worth of counterfeit goods. The number of seized products was staggering, approximately 30,000 music/movie DVDs, 3000 optical discs (games), 1600 multi-game cartridges and approximately $36,000 in Canadian currency. The RCMP tried to explain to the management and staff of several stores that some of the goods they were selling were in fact counterfeit.
"The theft of intellectual property is a serious crime which negatively impacts legitimate businesses by unfair competition," said Constable Judy Laurence of the FES. "The reason the RCMP undertook this initiative is two-fold. It sends a message to counterfeiters that their actions will not be tolerated and it also gives business owners who may not have known that they were breaking the law by selling counterfeit products, the chance to discontinue their criminal activity."
Experts from the Entertainment Software Association, Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association and the Canadian Recording Industry Association assisted the RCMP in the searches, helping to determine exactly what was legitimate and what was counterfeit. "On behalf of our member company motion picture studios, the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association would like to thank the RCMP for their enforcement efforts of last week at the Pacific Mall," said Serge Corriveau, Vice President, Anti-Piracy Operations.
"Motion picture piracy costs the movie industry $3.5 to $4 Billion (US) a year worldwide, and this activity also presents a tremendous loss of taxable revenue for legitimate Canadian businesses." he added. No arrests were made however but investigations continue.
Source:
newswire.ca