Malaysia’s IP HC Declares Selling of Streaming Devices ‘Illegal’ amid Copyright Issues
With the increasing sale, offer for sale, distribution, and/or supply of television boxes or illicit streaming devices (ISDs), the Intellectual Property High Court in Kuala Lumpur has ruled such sale and distribution as illegal observing that such activities enable copyright infringement and unauthorized access to copyright content. The High Court found that such activities involving supply and distribution violate Copyright. This is a welcome move because such activities result in multiple copyright infringement issues and this move will curb the sale of television boxes and devices.
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Loss to content creators
With the influx of more such devices, the entertainment industry and especially the content creators and owners in the media and entertainment industry are at loss owing to the alleged copyright infringement. As per one of the estimate, the losses caused by such sale and distribution of ISD amounts to RM3 billion annually. With the sale of such devices, the illegal streaming of content and circumventing the technological content server result in such copyright violation of the creator and the content server owner. With such declaration of treating it as illegal, it is assumed that it will strongly act as a deterrent effect to the seller and distributor where now the copyright owner can initiate criminal and civil action against those in possession. With more technological interventions and more infringed content in the market, it has become a real challenge for the IP owners to protect their IP from violation and other piracy issues. With such a challenge, the latest move to make the selling illegal will curb such activities with people indulged in any of the activities to be not spared.
Previous efforts
Such activities also increase the unfair competition in the market with more cheap and infringed products already available. With such precedent and streaming devices’ owners are in a better position to enforce their rights against violators which will be a step further in curbing the unfair competition. The right to enforce their rights against violation will help the creators to get compensatory damages which can help for sustaining the loss in the market. Not only the High Court, but even the Malaysian Government through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) has been into continuous efforts to combat any efforts for illegal streaming through streaming devices. MCMC and MDTCA work in consonance with the content creators and servers’ owners for combating any activities. Measures such as blocking websites, which provide infringed content access, have been taken. Not limited to blocking websites but criminal actions were also taken to combat any such activities. For instance, on 16 February 2021, a director of a mobile assessor company pleaded guilty to 6 charges for having in possession 6 Android television boxes that could illegally access content from All-Asian Satellite Television and Radio Operator (ASTRO). The Court imposed a fine of RM5,000 for each charge (RM30,000 in total) and a month’s jail for each charge if the company director failed to pay the fine.
MCMC chief regulatory officer Zulkarnain Mohd Yasin said in a statement that MCMC welcomed the court’s decision as it would further strengthen the legal battle against copyright infringement and piracy, “especially in digital and networked forms,” he added. “Prevalent and widespread use of ISDs cause far more economic harm than physical copyright piracy. These devices are part of a wider network of online copyright piracy, which will in the long run disincentivize original creators from producing creative work. Copyright piracy in any form should be curbed and deterred,” he added.
Author: Saransh Chaturvedi an associate at IP & Legal Filings, in case of any queries please contact/write back to us at support@ipandlegalfilings.com.
