A Hong Kong court Tuesday jailed three members of a criminal syndicate selling pirated movies for breaching the territory’s copyright law. They were each sentenced to 15 months imprisonment.

Trio was arrested in November 2006 after Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department’s Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau raided a shop and a storehouse with pirated optical discs.

Some 64,300 pirated DVDs were seized, including movie, animation and TV series film titles belonging to member companies of the Motion Picture Association and members of Japanese rights owners association CJ Mark.

"The failure of the appeal sends a very clear message that engaging in movie piracy in Hong Kong involves a very real risk of being arrested, convicted and sent to prison," Sam Ho, executive director and GM of International Federation Against Copyright Theft – Greater China, said.

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