The cross-border smuggling ring is involved in bringing
Openview decoders from South Africa into Zimbabwe, in contravention of customs,
trademark and copyright laws. Raids and seizures are set to continue across the
SADC region as a regional clampdown on content piracy continues.
The Openview decoders are used to access content from the
SABC and eMedia in South Africa. The content is not licensed for viewing in any
other countries in the region.
“We commend the Zimbabwe police on their detective work in
breaking the smuggling ring and making the arrests,” says Antonio Lee, COO of
Openview parent company eMedia Group. “We are working with law enforcement in
several SADC countries to share information about illegal trade in our
decoders. We look forward to more major busts and more arrests being made
soon.”
Lee says Openview decoders can only be legally sold in
South Africa, and that retailers who sell the set-top boxes in other countries
are guilty of crimes of content piracy – the unauthorised duplication and sale
of copyrighted content.
“Anyone purchasing an Openview decoder in Zimbabwe is
robbing the country of customs duties,” he says. “They can expect no
after-sales service. Also, Zimbabwe’s TV professionals suffer when viewers
watch foreign content instead of home-made Zimbabwean shows.”
Illegal decoders are a form of grey-market content piracy,
which involves distributing and selling a product or a service outside the
geographical area where it is licensed.
The raids follow an intensive investigation across key
Southern African markets, which has identified retail outlets selling the
Openview decoders. In total, eleven outlets were raided and 81 decoders
including 1094 records containing Openview serial numbers were seized.
Follow-up investigations are likely to lead to further arrests and
confiscations of devices.
“Openview supports these raids, and we take this issue
extremely seriously,” says Lee. “Pirating content using our devices is illegal.
Both retailers and viewers are guilty of crimes. Having an illegal decoder in
your store or in your home means you can be arrested at any time and
prosecuted.”
Lee says that training has been conducted with law
enforcement, customs agencies, and border officials on what to look out for in
fighting content piracy and decoder smuggling. He says that if smuggled
decoders are identified, they can be blocked remotely, so that they become
useless.
Lee says he appeals to Zimbabwe consumers not to buy
Openview decoders.
“Several national and international laws are being broken
if you use pirate decoders. You will get no customer support, they can be
switched off at any time, and you are engaging in illegal, criminal activity
that makes you liable to arrest and prosecution.” H Metro
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