A 29-year-old man was charged at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday with producing pirated CDs and DVDs that infringed the trademark of a local production company.

Seang Sok, vice prosecutor at the court, said that Nhiek Kunthy had been charged with imitating Town Production Company’s trademark on his illicit goods.

“I have charged him under Article 65 of Cambodia’s Trademark Law. He has now been sent to Prey Sar prison,” he said.

Brigadier General Ouk Saman, deputy chief of the Ministry of Interior’s Internal Security Police Department, said Kunthy was arrested on Friday at his rented home in the capital’s Sen Sok district following a complaint from Town Production.

During the raid, police seized thousands of fake CDs and DVDs, and also machinery used to run the illegal business.

Five others arrested alongside Kunthy were later found to have no links to the operation.

Meas Sok Ratanak, Town Production’s general manager, said the company was seeking $500,000 in compensation.

He explained that the company’s reputation and sales had suffered “because of this stealing and copying of CDs and DVDs”.

Neither Kunthy nor his defence lawyer could be reached for comment yesterday.

Although the local film industry has blossomed in recent years, filmmakers continue to complain that pervasive piracy means that releasing films for home viewing is not a commercially viable option.