Whose interests is Avpas really serving?
THE Anti-Video Piracy Association of Singapore (Avpas) is a non-government group which claims that it was formed to protect the interests of the Singaporean video industry and to educate the public on the benefits of buying original video products.
However, is this truly the case?
According to the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC), a government body, the Avpas website was created on April 21, shortly before Odex started issuing letters threatening legal action and demanding money from downloaders.
Consequently, during the Odex saga, Odex claimed to have received authorisation from Avpas in carrying out its demands for compensation. Is this merely a coincidence or is there more than meets the eye?
I believe that most Singaporeans, like me, have never known of the existence of Avpas prior to the Odex fiasco. It seemed to have been dormant since its creation and only appeared when Odex needed it to help justify their actions in demanding money.
Second, Avpas claims to represent the whole Singaporean video industry. If Avpas was really so, it should comprise mainly the major video industry players, such as MediaCorp, Poh Kim and Golden Village.
However, the facts show the exact opposite. The main Avpas committee is dominated by directors Peter Go and Steven Sing and staff from Odex, a small anime distributor. Even the Avpas office resides in Odex's office.
Moreover, the 'licensors' and 'associate members' in Avpas are all Japanese firms. The list of 'authorised titles' on the Avpas website also only consists of Japanese anime titles; and many, if not most, of those titles are not even sold in Singapore. Even links found on the Avpas page only lead to the websites of Odex and Japanese anime firms.
Why is Avpas only targeting anime and not other types of video, such as movies and TV dramas? Is anime the only type of video in Singapore?
Chen Liang
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