Lawyer Cocoy Padilla, the board’s legal chief, said in a press release that only sellers of pirated copies of copyrighted material like video and audio discs are to be penalized under the Act. Buyers or possessors of pirated DVDs are not criminally liable, he added.
OMB chairman Ronnie Ricketts had said the same thing. He cannot do anything; his hands are tied. The law does not penalize the buyer. He could only call on government officials to set an example and refrain from buying pirated copies.
Until the law’s coverage is expanded, critics of Llamas could only leave it to him and his superior, President Benigno Aquino III, to act on the embarrassing incident.
Had it been another government official, not Llamas, the reaction would not have been as strong. But it was Llamas, the same one who figured in an earlier controversy over guns found inside his car, and an official closely identified with the President in this time of the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Cabaero: DVDs | Sun.Star
All these are not working in Llamas’s favor and the best thing for him now is to leave government and not add to the heat on the President.