Trial set for Red Basket owner

Chris Clegg
South Peace News

Young Yoo, operator of Red Basket, will be back in High Prairie provincial court Jan. 30-31 for trial on 19 charges of selling pirated DVDs.

Bruce Maunder, federal Crown prosecutor, appeared in court Sept. 12 with Harry Jong, who will be acting as Yoo’s counsel.

Both agreed that more than one day of trial time was needed so the 1 ½ days were set aside by Judge J.A. Watson.

Maunder was appearing on behalf of Linda Banks, who will be prosecuting the case on behalf of the Attorney General of Canada.

Yoo was subject to a search warrant at both his home and place of business in mid-May.

A warrant to search was obtained which recovered approximately 1,000 unauthorized DVDs at both the business and residence of Young Yoo,” said Const. Devon Bateman, High Prairie RCMP, in a news release.

Police laid charges regarding the copies of recently released DVDs and charges of selling DVDs that infringe on copyrights and possession of stolen property.

Serge Corrveault, an investigator with the Canadian Motion Pictures Distributors Association in Montreal, says piracy is a growing industry.

Approximately 10 years ago they battled VHS piracy.

The advent and popularity of the Internet have made the crimes easier to commit.

The very first pirated DVD seized was found in Calgary several years ago, says Corrveault.

If found guilty, Yoo could face up to $25,000 for each counterfeit copy.