Judge upholds film companies' claims on counterfeit DVDs

Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, has upheld a writ filed by nine foreign film companies against Alexander Camilleri.

The judgment was delivered in a case filed by lawyer Patrick J. Galea on behalf of Disney Enterprises Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., Paramount Pictures Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Tristar Pictures Inc., Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Universal City Studios Inc., Universal City Studios Productions Inc., and Warner Bros, a division of Time Warner Ent.

The court heard the film companies' claims that Mr Camilleri had violated their rights of intellectual property and copyright when he had imported into Malta and distributed a number of counterfeit DVDs.

The court noted that a Customs officer had testified that 274 DVDs had been found in Mr Camilleri's possession at the airport. He had arrived in Malta with the DVDs and had declared them to Customs. As Customs officers suspected the DVDs might not be originals, they investigated and also involved Dr Galea, being the representative of the foreign companies.

A court expert had concluded that 272 of the DVDs were not in conformity with the quality and packing of the DVDs as licensed in favour of the companies and were not the genuine article. Furthermore, no specific request on the part of one of the copyright owners who filed the case had been made in the case of 130 of the DVDs.

Mr Camilleri, the court noted, had failed to prove that the DVDs were intended for his personal use, and that, in any case, he was not entitled to violate the companies' copyright.

The court concluded that the companies' copyright had been violated but, given the circumstances, it did not order Mr Camilleri to make good the damages sustained.