Many Bahamians continue to patronize street-side and in-store vendors of pirated DVDs, and they commit a crime when doing so, according to government and police officials.
In the wake of a two-day visit from a representative of a worldwide copyright enforcement body, government and police officials have reminded the public that renting, buying and selling pirated DVDs is a crime.
It turns out that, despite what police say is a public perception that piracy of intellectual property (IP) is “a victimless crime,” the penalties can be stiff.
Detective Inspector Michael Moxey, a police financial crimes investigator, said the law allows a maximum fine of $10,000 and a five-year prison sentence. He said the law is worded in such a way as to make the seller of the pirated property the focus, but he also said that the purchaser of the pirated material is also committing a crime.
“The law really focuses on those individuals [who] sell these items, and thatﾒs where our major thrust has been. But of course, if thereﾒs no demand for these products thereﾒll be no need to supply them, so persons have to be well aware of what they are involved with,” Detective Moxey said.
“So we try as best to cut out the demand so the supply wouldnﾒt kick in.”
Detective Moxey explained that a Copyright Trademark Infringement unit had been formed within the Police Force a little over two years ago.
Since then, the unit has gone after violators of copyrighted and trademarked material, such as those DVD vendors and sellers of fake Luis Vuitton handbags.
After meetings with the regional advisor for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on Tuesday, Detective Moxey said the police had been given information and training that will take them much farther in prosecuting intellectual property (IP) crimes.
Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson reiterated the governmentﾒs commitment to prosecuting the crime of piracy.
“Piracy of intellectual property is a crime whether it be by way of illegally copying DVDs and selling them or by illegally downloading and copying music and selling it, and the chairman of the Copyright Commission has indicated that a part of our ability to actually adequately enforce these notions is to start an education process from the primary school level,” she said.
“We look forward to a relationship with WIPO in assisting us, in a Bahamian way, to get the message across to our school children that although you see DVDs on the side of the road, when you go and buy them you are committing an offence.”
Sonia Cruickshank, the WIPO advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, explained that the organization has commissioned a consultant in Jamaica to develop a curriculum for primary and secondary school, which ought to be completed by the end of the year.
“Once the modules are completed they will be available to all of the countries to include their national content, and they are then free to be used as the countries see fit,” Ms. Cruickshank said.
Along the lines of Bahamianizing such a curriculum, Mrs. Maynard-Gibson pointed out that Arlene Nash-Ferguson of the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence has developed a primary school math curriculum using Junkanoo.
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
