Friday November 20, 2009
Cybercafe operator faces RM1.5m fine
By TAN SIN CHOW
GEORGE TOWN: A woman could be slapped with a fine of up to RM1.5mil after an enforcement team recovered at least 74 copies of allegedly pirated software from her Internet cafe in Bukit Mertajam.
She would face a maximum fine of RM20,000 for each infringing copy if found guilty under the Copyright Act 1987.
The 32-year-old woman, who has been in the business for more than two years, also faces a jail sentence of up to five years. She is the cafe owner and has since been released on police bail.
The Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism Ministry’s Penang enforcement head M. Guna Selan said nine enforcement officers and five representatives of the copyright owners raided the cybercafe at about 2.50pm on Thursday after receving public tip-off.
“There were a few customers in the cafe when we went in but none of them was arrested.
“Investigation showed that the software was priced at an estimated retail value of RM104,000,” he said at a press conference at his office in Bangunan Tuanku Syed Putra in Downing Street here.
Also seized were 29 computers worth RM61,000.
Illegitimate copies of different versions of Microsoft Windows XP Pro, Microsoft Office 2003 Pro and Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 were found, Guna Selan claimed.
The crackdown was carried out under the “Sikap Tulen Cybercafe” initiative. Cybercafe operators had earlier been told to legalise their software before a Nov 16 deadline. The raid in Penang was the second after a cybercafe in Petaling Jaya was raided in the nationwide crackdown campaign on pirated software.
Guna Selan said cybercafe owners have to ensure that their businesses operated within the confines of the law by using only original software.
He advised operators to conduct regular audits of their computers to ensure the licensing agreements with various copyright owners were in order.
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