Ministry uncovers illegal TV decoder able to access pay channels

The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry is tracking down the mastermind and location of a server which could access Hollywood and Asian movie subscription channels via a TVpad decoder without the approval of the copyright holders.

Ministry Enforcement Division's Intellectual Property Rights Section head, Othman Nawang said illegally accessing these pay channels through a decoder was a form of copyright piracy.

"It is not an offence to own a decoder. The issue is the illegal access of content or production protected by copyright," he told a media conference here Friday.

The ministry yesterday confiscated 50 TVpad decoders worth about RM42,500 from a spa at a shopping centre in the federal capital following complaints by the copyright holders on the sale of 'special' decoders which could access copyright channels illegally such as the BTV station of China.

Three spa workers in their 20's were released after having had their statements taken.

Othman said consumers who purchased these 'special' decoders only needed high speed internet connection to watch various movies including television channels from China. He said the decoders seized were sold at RM850 each when the standard gadget costs only RM80.

The case was being investigated under the Copyright Act 1987 which provides fines ranging from a minimum of RM20,000 to a maximum of RM40,000 for each unit of decoder owned or five years imprisonment or both upon conviction, he said.