THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407080576
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
Three local businesses and six employees have been indicted on charges of running one of the largest video-piracy rings illegally reproducing Asian films on the East Coast, authorities said.
On Wednesday, a Norfolk grand jury returned indictments for the illegal copying of thousands of films, primarily Chinese martial-arts movies never released in this country, state police said. When detectives raided the businesses in November, they seized 9,000 videos, 50 videocassette recorders, a machine capable of producing blank tapes and other electronic equipment, all worth about $500,000.
The illegal operation, which had been in operation since 1991, diverted over $1 million in royalties from the films' distributor, police said.
The businesses were identified in court papers as Eric Video Trading, Evermore International Trading and Double Success International (DSI) Corp., all of the 5700 block of Sellger Drive south of Military Circle shopping mall. The employees were identified as Ta-Chang Wang, Ying Y. Tsang, Tean Quay Lee, Kuo R. Lin, Margery Y. Li and Hsis-Lan Chin. All were charged with several counts of violating state copyright laws, which carry penalties of up to three years in jail and $100,000 in fines.
Most of the films were made in Hong Kong and Taiwan and included such titles as ``Slave of the Sword,'' ``The Magic Crane'' and ``Heroic Trio.'' They were distributed by Century Home Entertainment Inc. of San Francisco, which acquired exclusive rights for the films, then registered them with the Library of Congress, thus obtaining the copyright.
``This was one of the largest Asian piracy-rings around,'' said Alan Huie, Century Entertainment's general counsel. ``I've done seizures all over the country, yet each time I kept hearing DSI's name coming up. They had customers all over the country, especially in larger metropolitan areas where there was a large Asian population.
``I would have expected these people to have been in New York or San Francisco,'' Huie added. ``Maybe that's why they got away with it so long, tucked away in Norfolk where nobody expected.''
When investigators raided the store, they found an elaborate video reproduction factory, Huie said. The alleged pirates had bought large rolls of video tape, then used a machine to insert the exact length of tape into the plastic shells, thus eliminating waste. Up to 50 VCRs and rewinding machines were working at the same time when investigators entered, court papers indicated.
Century Entertainment first learned of DSI's location in 1991 and sent a cease and desist letter warning them of possible consequences, an affidavit filed with a search warrant shows. But the investigation did not begin until May 1993.
In September 1993, a private investigator and a Chinese translator entered the store and saw about 1,000 videos with both Chinese and Japanese labels. A UPS driver who stopped at the store told the agents that he picked up 20 to 40 boxes of cassettes daily. The boxes were delivered all over the country, he said.
The raid by state police occurred Nov. 3, but the businesses and their employees were not indicted until Wednesday because of language difficulties, state police said.
KEYWORDS: ARREST VIDEO PIRATING by CNB