In a landmark case under the Copyright Act, a 37-year-old Sim Lim Square seller, Ge Xin, was sentenced to 10 months in jail on 24 October 2024 for selling illegal streaming devices. This marks the first prosecution of its kind in Singapore.
Here’s what happened.
Sim Lim Square Seller Who Sold Illegal Streaming Devices Sentenced to 10 Months’ Jail Time
Ge Xin admitted to violating the Copyright Act and infringing on the copyrights of works owned by major entertainment companies such as Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, and the Football Association Premier League.
The content available on these illegal devices included popular movies like Top Gun: Maverick, Raya and The Last Dragon, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, and even an English Premier League match between Liverpool and Manchester City.
Ge Xin operated two shops in Sim Lim Square, MT Gadget+ and Grandnew, which were fined SGD$200,000 and SGD$100,000 respectively under the Copyright Act.
Illegal streaming devices often come with pre-installed computer programs that enable unauthorised access to copyrighted content. However, these devices pose risks to users, as some of them contain malware that can expose individuals to online scams and other cyberthreats.
Ge Xin’s case is just the tip of the iceberg. During a police raid on illegal streaming devices in October 2022, four women and 13 men were arrested, and over 2,500 sets of these devices were seized, with an estimated total value of $500,000. Ge’s stores alone accounted for 400 of the confiscated devices.
This raid was the first reported crackdown on illegal streaming devices since a law prohibiting the sale of pirate set-top boxes was passed in September 2021.
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong, MT Gadget+ began selling these devices in 2018, with prices ranging from $115 to $220 each and a profit margin of between $43 and $80. Grandnew, on the other hand, sold the devices in 2018 and made approximately $5,000 a month.
Despite receiving three letters from the Premier League in 2020 and 2021 demanding that Grandnew stop selling the illegal devices due to copyright infringement, Ge Xin continued to authorize his companies to sell them.
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