2 nabbed for selling counterfeit DVD product in Binondo

INQUIRER.net file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Two people were arrested and roughly P8.6 million worth of counterfeit rewritable optical disks were seized after authorities raided a shop in Binondo, Manila, Monday, a Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) official said Tuesday.

Police Director Samuel Pagdilao Jr., the CIDG chief,  identified the two suspects as Wen Weihai a.k.a Dexter, a Chinese national, and Betty Betis, a Chinese-Filipino.

The Anti-Fraud and Commercial Crime Division chief, Superintendent Benjamin Accorda, said the two were arrested after authorities raided DVD-R Master Inc. located at 1204 Soler Street in Binondo by virtue of several warrants for violation of section 155 and 168, in relation to section 170 of Republic Act 8293.

Accorda said the raid was conducted after Blue Ray DVD R King Inc. complained that the establishment is selling counterfeit optical discs and Blue Ray DVD-R product bearing the trade name Sumax and Mr. Data—trade names it legally owns.

CIDG said DVD-R Master Inc. violated the intellectual property right of the Blue Ray DVD R King Inc. when it illegally copied the trade mark of the Sumax and Mr. Data and distributed the counterfeit products in the local market.

Confiscated items were 1,448 boxes of counterfeit products with an estimated market value of P8,688,000, CIDG said. Jamie Marie Elona