Sony complains vs rampant piracy of Playstation software

Sony Philippines plans to file anew a complaint with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) against the continued and rampant piracy of its hugely popular Playstation software.

In an interview with The STAR, Sony Philippines president Hiroaki Kobayashi said the continued rampant piracy of its Playstation software is one reason why Sony Japan is hesitant to sell its PSP units in the Philippines.

Kobayashi said that almost all available Playstation software being sold in the Philippines are pirated copies.

Aside from its Playstation software, Kobayashi said, its memory stick for its digital cameras and video cams are also being pirated.

Despite its hesitation in selling its popular PSP in the country, Kobayashi said that Sony expects to post higher sales of P4.1 billion for its fiscal year April 2006 to March 2007 for a total Philippine market share of 28 percent.

For its 2007 fiscal year, Kobayashi is still optimistic of a double digit growth from sales of its high-definition digital cameras, video cams and television sets.

Sony, Kobayashi said, had previously filed a complaint with the IPO.

In fact, Sony had been able to get a conviction for one of its complaint.

The Pasig City Regional Trial Court way back in July 2006 had convicted a couple for violating the Intellectual Property Code.

Pasig RTC Branch 167 Judge Alfredo C. Flores sentenced Loreto Lee and Sally King to a minimum of five years each in prison and fined them a total of P300,000 for infringing the IP rights of Japanese software and Playstation maker Sony.

The couple, both stockholders of Lucas-Art Corp., which was formerly located at the third floor of the Virra Mall Shopping Center in Greenhills, San Juan, were convicted on two counts each of copyright and trademark infringements and unfair competition.

A third accused, Susan Chua, jumped bail, while two others, Johnny Nubla and Emilia Nubla, remain at large.

The intellectual property rights division of the National Bureau of Investigation lodged charges against Lee and King and the other accused after it seized more than 13,000 pieces of counterfeited Sony CD play station games during a raid at the outlet of Lucas-Art Corp. on June 8, 2000.