According to the latest news report coming from Inquirer Tech, the CIDG has said that the confiscated games were “allegedly” smuggled and not “pirated” as it was earlier reported by GMA news (this was taken from Yahoo since the original news report was changed)Â thus adding a whole new spin to the whole Datablitz raid.
Police Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, had said in the report that, “Datablitz Incorporated is not authorized to distribute and sell these products,†Sosa said, adding that the software games products were allegedly smuggled from Hong Kong and Singapore.
Also, Sosa reported that the arrested Datablitz staff, 11 were charged with Section 168, or unfair competition in relation to Section 179 of RA 8293, or the Intellectual Property Rights law punishable by two to five years imprisonment, or fines ranging from P50,000 to P200,000.
So from pirates to now smugglers, it would seem that Datablitz is currently knee-deep in mud because of what happened 2 days ago.
For more info on what has happened please refer to our first post about the whole thing.
11 Comments
WATDAHELL?! Seriously?! CIDG… GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT! >_>
Wow Datablitz Han Soloed their copies into the country. Wish they got their games through legal methods. Want to buy from them since it’s really convenient… but smuggling? yikes…
 that’s the thing, the CIDG report stated that the items are “allegedly” smuggled and have yet to be confirmed as actually smuggled. So there may be a chance that CIDG may be wrong (or right) in this.
At this point, I’d trust DataBlitz over the CIDG.
Smuggled eh… best not check the online gadget shops then.
Alleged…
Innocent until proven guilty.
No proof, no prison time.
impossibleng smuggled yan, patunayan ng DB na dumaan sa post office or customs yan at may papeles yan, naghahanap talaga sila ng butas kaso pumalpak sila, malas nila ngayon, demanda nyo na yan datablitz ng magsara na ang XPlay
This is bad…
I was able to speak to two sources (who will remain anonymous) from within Datablitz. The first source, familiar with how DB’s items are brought to the country, said that all of DB’s games come from authorized distributors and pass through the Bureau of Customs (BOC). This means that Datablitz pays taxes and does the proper paperwork to legally put gaming merchandise they bought from outside the country, into their local branches and sell them to local consumers. In NBA 2K13′s case, the source said that original copies of the game were bought from a distributor in Singapore and that their stocks also passed through the Bureau of Customs.
This invalidates claims made by the CIDG and reported by media outlets such as Inquirer and Philstar, saying that Datablitz smuggled copies of NBA 2K13 into the country. It should be noted however that the source’s statements are not official statements from Datablitz, Datablitz has not yet released any customs documents, and the Bureau of Customs has not made any statements regarding the matter. Still, Datablitz has been selling original copies of games for almost 2 decades and they have had no prior cases of smuggling. If their reputation is anything to go by, it’s safe to say that their copies of 2K13 also passed through the BOC.
In Defense of Datablitz: Analyzing Datablitz Official Statement regarding CIDG Raid, Inside Sources Speak Out
I was able to interview 2 Datablitz employees and they provided a lot of information.
Please share guys. Thanks.
http://vidjogames.wordpress.co…
This is getting out of hand. In a matter of just three days, the Datablitz raid has turned from piracy, to unauthorized selling, and now charged for allegedly smuggled products from Hong Kong and Singapore.
With the articles I’m reading, the info is always lacking. How did they suspect it was smuggled?Â
Wasn’t the complaint by X-Play only about the distribution of 2K13? So why did 2.7M worth of software products got seized during this raid? Â X-Play saying they are shocked with the arrest and how this turned out is hard to believe.Â
THis is all a ruse to prolong the items in their custody… Di kasi maiwasan na nakupitan na yan at nabigay para sa mga anak, anak ng kerida at pinsan ng mga kapitbahay ng kung sino mang putanginang kamag anak nila… YAN ANG PULIS!
FROM PIRACY TO UNAUTHORIZED SELLING TO SMUGGLING. TEKA TEKA TEKA. ANO BA NAKALAGAY SA SEARCH WARRANT NIYO? DIBA UNA PIRACY? TAPOS BINAGO NIYO. TSK.