An English judge has been criticised by the European Leisure
Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) for his allegations of
industry overpricing made during a case for conspiracy to defraud
the communications and computer games industries.
Terry Anslow, Chief Inspector of the ELSPA Crime Unit slammed
the judge at Leicester Crown Court yesterday, following his
comments during the case and sentencing.
Kevin Bailey and Radomir Lukic, both of Loughborough, pleaded
guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud and trademark
offences.
The case comes as the result of a major investigation by the
National Crime Squad and British Telecom investigators which
uncovered an enterprise involving the “chipping” of pay-as-you-go
mobile phones (an illegal practice that enables free calls), the
manufacture and distribution of decoder devices (which allow the
user to receive cable television without subscription) and computer
games counterfeiting.
Radomir Lukic , 41, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for
BT fraud offences and Kevin Bailey was given 150 hours community
service order and ordered to pay £5,500 compensation.
Judge Bray, had been made aware that Bailey was found to have
912 counterfeit compact discs containing PlayStation games, he also
had 1,000 copied discs - his masters - and admitted to selling
several thousand copied discs to “friends and family” for five
pounds each. Judge Bray did not regard this quantity as a
commercial transaction and stated: "I do not close my eyes to the
fact that the retailers and publishers are grossly overcharging the
general public".
The judge also said: "Counterfeiting of games is now so
widespread and the reason is the public feel that there is gross
overcharging by manufacturers of discs".
In regard to Lukic, the judge felt that his fraudulent actions
in regard to mobile telephones was in a different category to
counterfeiting of compact discs, because if BT were to make
substantial losses that would be passed on to the telephone
customers, which included Judge Bray, resulting in higher charges
for consumers.
Terry Anslow, Chief Investigator of the ELSPA Crime Unit
commented:
"I feel that many of the remarks made by
Judge Bray were uninformed, his knowledge of the games industry is
not what it should be. Less than 5- miles away from his Court, in
Warwickshire , in the last month we have seen 90 families directly
affected by counterfeiting when the employees of a major company
were made redundant due to the increase in piracy.
“Whilst I have no complaint regarding the
sentencing itself - taking into account Bailey had no previous
convictions - the remarks of the Judge I feel were completely
incorrect. Trademark law and Copyright law exist to protect
intellectual property rights. When senior judiciary take the view
that, because it is a widespread crime it deserves a lower
categorisation to other fraud, it is sending a very mixed message.
Fortunately this judge's views are not shared by other courts who
take this type of offence very seriously, and give it the degree of
seriousness that it should attract"
