Federal police have smashed an alleged large-scale pirate DVD business operating in the south-east.
Officers searched the Springvale shop yesterday, seizing 53 DVD burners and more than 15,000 suspected counterfeit discs.
Phong Quoc Ly, 33, of Clayton, the proprietor of Quoc Phong DVD World, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday charged with five copyright infringement offences.
He is also charged with dealing with at least $100,000 or other property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of crime.
Mr Ly, who was arrested and charged on Wednesday, is alleged to have committed the offences between August, 2012, and November 7 this year.
One charge alleges he engaged in copying DVDs that caused copyright infringements which had a “substantial prejudicial impact” on the owner.
Mr Ly is also charged with making for intended sale and profit “pirated” DVDs of an infringing copy of a work.
It is alleged he sold and possessed pirated DVDs and CDs of copyright work and possessed a device for making infringing copies.
Mr Ly appeared before magistrate Luisa Bazzani at a filing hearing at which she heard a prosecution brief will be served in March followed by a committal mention.
Represented by solicitor Nadia Giorgianni, Mr Ly was bailed on conditions that included surrendering his passport and not attending points of international departure.
Thursday’s sting followed a nine-month investigation into the business, which is alleged to have been making and selling about $300,000 worth of pirated DVDs a year. Most of the discs are believed to contain Chinese movies and TV series.
Detective Superintendent Ian Bate, the co-ordinator of the Australian Federal Police’s Melbourne crime operations, told Fairfax Media: “This was reported to us earlier in the year by the industry.”
“We looked at the extent of the criminality believed to be involved [and] assessed the scale of the operation, and that’s why we became involved,” he said.
Mr Ly’s home and and a convenience store associated with his Springvale business were also searched on Thursday.
The raids follow a report from the Motion Picture Association of America, which named Melbourne’s Caribbean Gardens market as “notorious” vendor of pirated DVDs.
“The AFP takes these large-scale cases of copyright theft very seriously,” Detective Superintendent Bate said.
“This should be a warning to others who may be manufacturing and selling counterfeit goods that you are likely to get caught out.”
