Big illegal DVD bust in MoBay
MONTEGO BAY, St James – Police in this second city Monday night seized more than 10,000 pirated CDs and DVDs, seven computers and two monitors in what was considered the biggest bust in this illegal trade in the island.
Three persons have so far been arrested and charged with breaches of the Copyright Act.
The three – 50-year-old sales representative Sonia Williams of Farm Heights in the parish, 33-year-old businesswoman Natalie Malcolm of Cornwall Courts, and Ovid Malcolm, a 21-year-old computer technician of Norwood – are booked to appear before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate Court on Friday.
According to the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) liaison officer for St James, Corporal Peter Salkey, a police team went to DVD Palace located on premises at 46 Market Street at approximately 7:30 pm on Monday. The store was searched and more than 10,000 pirated DVDs were found.
Jamaica was among more than 40 countries identified by the US Government in a recent report as failing to adequately safeguard American producers of music, movies and other copyrighted material from piracy.
Media reports on Monday stated that the Bush administration had placed 12 countries on a ‘priority watch list’ which will subject them to extra scrutiny and could eventually lead to economic sanctions.
Jamaica, along with 30 other countries, was placed on a lower level monitoring list.
Yesterday, Phillip Reynolds, the chairman and CEO of Caribbean Home Entertainment Limited which has exclusive rights to distribute DVDs from some of Hollywood’s major studios, expressed delight at Monday’s seizure.
“It is nice to know that piracy is being addressed at a regional level and not just the organised Crime Division who has overall responsibility for IT infringement,” he told the Observer.