Originally Posted by
Stickman
I notice that dodgy DVDs weren't available for sale in Patpong this week and if reports are to be believed, their hiatus may become more permanent. The government is cracking down on intellectual piracy in a big way and their drive to stamp out this problem bears more than a passing resemblance to the Taksin government's crackdown on nightlife in 2001 and 2002. There has been a big increase in the number of cases filed with the copyright court in Bangkok although the government is encouraging those embroiled in such cases to settle out of court. A Bangkok friend, in fact the guy I have known longer than anyone else here, had an issue when he used a single photo from a website without permission and reproduced it in print. The copyright owner discovered this and threatened legal action before they settled on 25,000 baht out of court.