Friday, May 23, 2008 IP enforcement in Sri Lanka By Clint Fabiosa & Andrew Ong I.Protect
SRI LANKA (formerly known as Ceylon) is an island nation in South Asia, located about 31 kilometers (19.3 miles) off the southern coast of India. It is home to around 20 million people.
Due to its location in the path of major sea routes, Sri Lanka is a strategic naval link between West Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been a center of counterfeit CD and DVD production until 2004.
In 2004, Sri Lankan police raided a previously unknown CD manufacturing plant, Optical Media Pvt. Ltd., owned and operated by Malaysian nationals. The plant has been in operation early that year as a legitimate company (which sported the Eagle brand) approved by the Sri Lankan Board on Investments.
Prior to the raid, Sri Lankan authorities assumed that the counterfeit CDs and DVDs involved in large scale sale in the markets were being imported to Sri Lanka from other parts of Asia. Little did they know that the counterfeit CDs and DVDs were being manufactured in their home soil.
The police also raided a main bazaar in Colombo, the nation’s capital, and confiscated a large number of optical media products. The news of the raid also spread to other counterfeit CD and DVD sellers. As a result, most of the shops stopped displaying counterfeit copies of Eagle brand used by the shop.
