Share a little story of mine about 10+ years ago.
I was running a small Music CD shop and due to the cost of Cds are
quite expensive and to avoid too much balance stock, i normally
dont order alot. But sometime it is hard to predict the sales, so
for some titles, they will sell out very fast. Some customer dont
mind order it from me and wait, but their main concern is at least
able to look at the cover before ordering.
So what i did was some of the popular titles i would scan the cover
from original copies and print them out. When i sold out my last
copy of original, i would temporary use the printed one until my
new stock arrived.
One fine day, my shop was raided by CID and music companies rep.
After 2 hours of searching by the reps, they could not find any
pirated music CD, while i was chatting away with the CID that
accompany them. Those Reps still insist on searching until the CID
insist that there are no more place to search and it is obvious
there are no pirated stuff, a little arguement between them and
finally the CID raise his voice to declare End of Raid, no more
searching.
They brought back 500 pieces of original CDS and 20 printed covers.
3 months later they send me a summon to go to court and charge me
for the 20 printed covers which i have all the original CDs(among
the 500 pcs). I spoke to my lawyer and decide to fight the case
seems the charges seems dumb and any person with the right mind
would find me guilty.
After a few discussion between the lawyers, my lawyer told me it
might not be advisable to fight the case, would be better to admit
guilty. I was like WTF? why?.
He told me all the 20 scans i have their are logos from the music
companies. They are able to come up with 7 charges base on that 20
logoes. They are going to reduce to 1 charge if i plead guilty. If
i dont, i have to prepare for a fight which does not gurantee any
winning.
During that time, 1 pirated CD was fine $200-300, so he thinks for
my case it would be maybe 50-100 since it is not a CD, it is just a
logo. Assuming i was lucky, the judge will fine me for $50 for each
logo, total = 20 x $50 = $1,000
lawyer fees = $2000, and also i have to compensate the music
companies for a total of $4,000. Total Damage = $7,000 and that
would be the best situation.
If i would fight the case, lawyer fees = $20,000 and no gurantee
that i would win, and base on previous cases, chances of winning is
definitely less the 1/2.
So as a owner of a small music shop, looking at the figures, i
decide to plead guilty. Losing $7,000 is better then losing $20,000
for sure plus court fine if i lose.
So i plead guilty and guess what, the judge fine me for $500 for
each logo. 1 whole pirated CD is $200-300, 1 Logo = $500? My lawyer
was stunned by the fine too.
in the end my damage = $14,000. $10,000 fine, $4,000 compensate
music companies. My lawyer decided not to charge me any lawyer's
fee since he was very sorry with the outcome.
I learn something from this incident, poor people dont have the
means to prove they are innocent at certain situation. So if you
suay suay kana, then thats too bad.
The legal system is fair? greatest lie ever.
But without it, would be even worst.
