Mast Mast Music Must Must Pay Up for Selling Fake D.V.D.s

A local video shop owner has today been fined a total of £2,500 and ordered to pay £1,200 costs by Brent Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to three offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and seven offences under Video Recordings Act 1984 in relation to the possession and supply of pirated and unclassified D.V.D.s and C.D.s. 

The Court who acknowledged counterfeiting of DVDs was a major problem, heard that Christopher Joseph, 45, of Thurlby Road, Wembley, trading as ‘Mast Mast Music 4 U’, within the Bombay Bazaar Arcade at 140 Ealing Road, Wembley. The matter came to the attention of Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service following a complaint from the British Phonographic Institute (B.P.I.), who protect recording artists’ copyright within the U.K. 

During October last year, Trading Standards Officers made a series of undercover test purchases of D.V.D.s from the defendant’s shop which were examined by Yash Raj Films International limited who are a major supplier of Bollywood films in this country. They concluded the DVDs were counterfeit as the print work on the items was inferior and security codings that are applied to genuine DVDs were missing. 

The Court heard on the 12th November 2007, Trading Standards Officers visited the defendant’s premises together with the Alperton Safer Neighbourhood Police team and a representative from the B.P.I. As a result of their search, the Officers seized over 1000 D.V.D.s and C.D.s which were either suspected of being counterfeited and/or unclassified. 

The seized DVDs were subsequently examined by the British Board of Film Classification who confirmed that they were unclassified as required by the Video Recordings Cat 1984. 

The Magistrates heard Mr Joseph had been selling his DVDs for between £2.00 to £5.00 each whereas the genuine and classified DVDs cost approximately £17.00. Following the case, the Magistrates granted a forfeiture order for the seized DVDs which the Trading Standards Service will send for recycling at a special plastic processing factory. 

Speaking after the case, Bill Bilon, Director of Brent and Harrow Trading Standards Service said “This individual knowingly supplied a wide range of counterfeit film recordings from his shop. Many titles did not display the required age – classification rating and so children could easily have purchased and viewed 12, 15 or even 18 rated films. I hope that this conviction will therefore act as a warning to other traders who might be tempted to buy and sell such illegal goods which endanger both legitimate business and consumers alike. Brent and Harrow Trading Standards will seek out these unscrupulous traders and will not hesitate to take robust legal action against them in respect of their criminality”.