Sep 23, 2010
Ex-CEO fined for illegal access
By Khushwant Singh
A FORMER chief executive of SPH MediaBoxOffice (SPHMBO) secretly kept tabs on the e-mail correspondence of his former colleagues even after he left the company in February 2007. Some 10 months later, Steven Choo Luke Kuo discovered that his old firm was drafting a trademark application for 'MBO'.
The 52-year-old, who was then operating a competing company also called MBO, quickly submitted his own application to the trademark authorities. Choo's application was uncannily similar - down to the same typographical errors - to the draft drawn up by his previous employer, and SPHMBO lodged a police report.
Choo was found guilty last week and on Thursday District Judge Toh Yung Cheong fined him $1,000 on each of the 52 charges of illegally accessing the electronic mail server of SPHMBO. He did not pay the fine of $52,000 and is appealing against the conviction. Choo is out on bail of $25,000.
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