Second Sim Lim Square shop owner jailed for selling illegal streaming devices
SINGAPORE - A second shop owner at Sim Lim Square has been sentenced to jail after admitting to selling illegal streaming devices at Sim Lim Square, since the Copyright Act was amended in 2021 to ban the sale of such devices that access pirated content.
On May 30, Wang Yue, 36, was sentenced to six months' jail, while his company Ace Technologies was fined $181,000.
The Chinese national had pleaded guilty to 17 charges related to copyright infringement on March 20.
He also pleaded guilty to another 17 copyright-related charges served to Ace Technologies, a firm he had incorporated and owned.
Another 33 charges were taken into consideration during the sentencing of Wang and his company.
Ace Technologies occupied four shop units at Sim Lim Square and sold the illegal streaming devices between 2018 and 2022.
These devices were able to access content from Disney, Warner Bros, Discovery Inc, and English Premier League football games .
Wang had sourced for and purchased the devices from an unnamed overseas supplier.
He admitted to instructing his employees to offer the devices for sale by telling customers they would be able to access otherwise copyrighted material with no additional charges.
Each device was sold for between $149 and $249. Wang made a profit of between $39 and $99 for each sale, earning up to $18,000 monthly from the sale of the devices.
He continued to sell the devices even after receiving two letters in January and October 2020 from the Football Association Premier League, warning him to stop the sale of the devices as they infringed on the league's copyright.
Wang was arrested on Oct 4, 2022 , after a raid by officers from the Intellectual Property Rights Branch of the Singapore Police Force. More than 1,000 illegal streaming devices were seized from his shops.
Wang's conviction is the second successful conviction under copyright provisions targeting commercial dealers of illegal streaming devices, after the Copyright Act was amended in 2021 to ban the sale of media streaming boxes with 'add-on' services that help consumers access pirated content.
In October 2024, Ge Xin, 37, was sentenced to 10 months' jail, while his two shops, MT Gadget+ and Grandnew, were fined $200,000 and $100,000, respectively.
In October 2022, police officers raided several retail shops in Sim Lim Square and arrested 17 people for selling illegal streaming devices.
In a statement released after Wang's sentencing, Mr Kevin Plumb, general counsel of the Premier League, said: 'This case once again sends a message to pirates that their activity will not be tolerated and reminds consumers that buying these devices is a problem.'
'There are still more cases to follow from the significant raids in 2022, and we thank the Singapore Attorney-General Chambers and the Intellectual Property Rights Branch of the Singapore Police Force for their commitment to these investigations and prosecutions.'
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