Pirated VCDs, DVDs confiscated

JAKARTA: City Police conducted an operation to confiscate pirated video compact discs (VCD) and digital video discs (DVD) at Mega Kuningan ITC in South Jakarta and Mangga Dua Mall in Central Jakarta.

A total of 490 VCDs and 11,301 DVDs were seized from eight kiosks located at both malls during the operation last Friday.

City Police special crime director Sr. Comr. Edmond Ilyas said on Tuesday that the kiosks' owners would be charged with film copyright and criminal acts according to Article 44 of the law no. 12/1997 and Article 282 of the criminal code.

According to Edmond, the distributors could face a sentence of between one month and seven years of imprisonment and a maximum fine of Rp 1 billion (US$117,647).

He agreed that the factories which produced pirated VCDs and DVDs were also responsible and not just the distributors. -- JP