Merit Entertainment has announced two seizures of its Force video games in South Africa and Hong Kong, which have emphasised both the prevalence of piracy in the industry and the company’s determination to tackle the growing problem.
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) seized a shipment of 40 Merit Force 2006 copies in Durban, originating from the Guangzhou Xiongye Electrics Company in China. The consignment was bound for an importer in Durban and intended for distribution in the South African market. All the copies will be destroyed and the importer could face up to three years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to E22,000 if convicted.
Bob Fay, Merit’s director of government relations, said: “Sars is an excellent lawenforcement agency and we appreciate its swift and positive action. This should again illustrate our commitment to fighting worldwide piracy. I recently met representatives from Sars and was impressed by their professionalism. In addition, I met the Department of Trade and Industry and Commercial Crimes Units of major city police departments, and educated them on our counterfeit issues in South Africa, receiving their commitment to assist Merit.”
Sars has been given the names of Chinese exporters of Merit copies as well as suspected importers. “The recent seizure cost the importer US$30,000 he paid to Chinese pirates, and now he doesn’t have the goods and is facing serious legal problems,” Fay added. “In accordance with our zero-tolerance policy, anyone caught importing, distributing and/or operating Merit copies will be a target for enforcement action by South African authorities. So if you don’t want to face criminal charges, then get rid of your copies.”
Separately, on June 28, Hong Kong Customs & Excise raided a Kowloon business where they arrested one employee and seized 32 copies of Merit’s 2005 and 2006 Force video games. This was the culmination of a threemonth investigation into illegal distribution. Fay stated that the Hong Kong firm is one of the largest distributors of copied Merit games, and its activities violated Merit’s intellectual property rights. The evidence seized will be the basis for criminal charges under Hong Kong’s Trade Descriptions Ordinance.
Merit has an installed base of more than 250,000 touchscreen games, garnering approximately 4.6 billion plays per year. “We will continue to protect our distributors and operators from unscrupulous counterfeit dealers,” said Dave Logan, the company’s Chief Executive.
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