Hawker cleared of copyright infringement

An appeal court yesterday cleared a hawker of copyright infringement related to the sale of pirate videos after the judge ruled that he could not be found guilty since the contravention was time barred.

Mr Justice Vincent De Gaetano upheld Eugenio Frantz`s appeal and cleared him of infringing his police permit after noting that Frantz had been arraigned over three months after the police raided his stall.

A contravention becomes time barred if prosecution does not take place within three months from the day it is committed.

The Magistrates` Court had originally found Frantz guilty of the charge and ordered the confiscation of the video cassettes.

The judge yesterday ordered that the cassettes remain confiscated because they were illegal.

Dr José Herrera and Dr Joseph Giglio appeared for Frantz.