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1. Parties
Plaintiff:
Public Prosecutor, Office of Khon
Kaen Provincial State Attorney
Defendant: Sanyalak Baodee
2. Background and Issue
Background
The plaintiff
filed that Vivendi Universal Games, Inc.
and Sierra On-Line, Inc.
is the owner of the copyright of ‘Half
Life: Counterstrike’ computer program.
SIERRA appointed B.M. Media (Thailand)
Co., Ltd. to be a limited agent in
Thailand. The defendant carried on
letting for hire game software to
customers in his shop. After firm
evidence showed that the defendant
infringed the copyrighted work of the
injured person by letting for hire the
‘Half Life: Counterstrike’ software to
customers without the authorization and
acquisition of copyright, a policeman
petitioned Khon Kaen Provincial Court
for a search warrant. The subsequent
raid was conducted by virtue of the
search warrant. In the defendant’s shop
there were 6-7 computers. The ‘Half Life:
Counterstrike’ computer program was
found in a computer. Mr. Montri, the
authorized agent, insisted that the
program he found in the computer was the
injured person’s copyrighted work. The
police arrested the defendant and seized
the computer with the injured person’s
computer program. The defendant was
charged with the copyright infringement
of another person by letting for hire or
sale without authorization. The
defendant pleaded not guilty.
The defendant alleged that
he owned the computer shop. There were 6
computers in his shop. The computer that
held the injured person’s computer
program was brought to be fixed at his
shop by a customer a couple of days
before the raid. He did not know whether
or not it had been installed by another
person’s copyrighted computer program.
When they inspected the computers, the
policemen and the authorized agent found
the computer program of the injured
person only in the exhibit computer. No
customer was playing the game when the
policemen entered the shop.
Issue
Whether or not the defendant had
committed any crimes as the plaintiff
claimed?
3. Ruling.
The Central Intellectual Property and
International Trade Court dismissed the
plaint.
4.Opinion
In the proceedings the plaintiff
presented the policemen who arrested and
investigated the defendant as witnesses.
They testified that Mr. Montri, the
authorized agent, opened the computer
and found the ‘Half Life: Counterstrike’
computer program installed on the
defendant’s computer. The computer
program was the copyrighted work of the
injured person. But the plaintiff did
not present Mr. Montri, an eyewitness,
in the trial. The computer was not
presented to the court as evidence. The
policemen testified only what they had
heard from Mr. Montri to the court.
Furthermore, the defendant pleaded not
guilty when he was arrested and
investigated, and also at the court. The
plaintiff’s evidence was insufficient to
prove that there was the ‘Half Life:
Counterstrike’ computer program in the
exhibit computer as the plaintiff
claimed. It was not conclusive that the
defendant had committed the offense
against ‘Half Life: Counterstrike’
computer program, a copyright work of
the injured person, by communication to
public by letting for hire for the
purpose of profit seeking. Therefore the
Central Intellectual Property and
International Trade Court dismissed the
plaint and ordered the policeman to
return the computer to the defendant.
5. Keywords
Computer Program - Letting for hire -
Copyright infringement
Summarized and Translated by
Saowalak Jullamon
Edited by
Stephen
Lorriman
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