KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — The Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP) today warned all traders against selling streaming technology devices which contain copyright works without physical or digital permission.
KPDNHEP Enforcement director Azman Adam said the ministry will take strict and continuous enforcement action to combat the activity.
“KPDNHEP views the matter seriously, and will not compromise with any individual/dealer involved in offering the sale of streaming technology devices which contain copyright works without physical or digital permission,” he said in a statement today.
Azman said strict action would be taken, as stipulated under Section 43AA of the Copyright Act 1987, against any individual/dealer who was found to be selling streaming technology devices containing copyrighted works without permission.
If convicted, offenders can be fined up to RM200,000, jailed for up to 20 years, or both, he said.
He said the ministry would also take action under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which allows all accounts belonging to offenders/suspects to be frozen and forfeited if found guilty.
Meanwhile, Azman said that from 2018 to September 2022, KPDNHEP successfully foiled 531 cases of physical distribution of pirated content, with an estimated value of RM5.4 million.
He also said that in the same period, KPDNHEP has successfully blocked 2,252 websites which contain pirated copyright works, and a total of 2,391 content items have been taken down for action (content removal).
Azman added another initiative taken by the ministry to combat digital copyright violations was to block illegal websites through the Cyber Copyright Enforcement (Cycore), and until last month a total of 319 websites were successfully blocked, involving the removal of 1,902 content items.
— Bernama
