As we celebrate the 10th business anniversary of PhD Education, we look back at the obstacles that we have overcome and how our humble publishing company has grown over the years. Here is a repost from our old website to remind us of how a firm belief can guide us in doing the right thing.
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Pirated Exam Packages Seized by CID
Reported on 28 December 2014
PhD Education takes a firm stand against copyright infringement and will make every effort to safeguard the interests of our vendors.
In the first week of April 2013, we received tip-offs from our customers that pirated copies of PhD Education's exam packages were spotted at some outlets of "Jeremy Exam Paper". After surveying, it was found that 3 titles of PhD Education's exam packages were sold at more than 20 outlets of "Jeremy Exam Paper" islandwide. PhD Education's logo was removed in the pirated copies and these copies were sold at lower prices than in Popular bookstores. Private investigators were then engaged to make trap purchases and to obtain relevant evidence of copyright infringement.
The evidence was then presented to the Subordinate Court for search warrant applications against the Toa Payoh and Thomson Plaza "Jeremy Exam Paper"outlets. On 10 April 2013, these two outlets were raided by the Intellectual Property Rights Branch (IPRB) of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Singapore Police Force, as well as our lawyers and the private investigators. Pirated copies were found at both stalls during the raids and confiscated by the CID.
In Singapore, it is a criminal offence to distribute infringing copies for trade and profits. The owners of "Jeremy Exam Paper" had clearly violated the law. For an out-of-court settlement, the owners of "Jeremy Exam Paper", Phang Chay Kim and Phang Chye Huat, published a quarter-page public apology notice in The Straits Times newspaper on 9 June 2014. In addition, a sum of $30000 was compensated to PhD Education.
The owners of "Jeremy Exam Paper" were also charged under criminal laws. They were ordered to pay $8000 to the State, failing which, a jail term was applicable. They opted to pay the fine.
A full report of this case was published in Lianhe Zaobao on 23 November 2014.
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