Suspended term for 'Viagra' porn man
A businessman received a suspended jail sentence yesterday for breaching an order not to use the name of the anti-impotence drug Viagra as the title of a pornographic magazine.
Mr Justice Azizul Suffiad ruled that Li Kin-man, a director of Ultrasound Holdings, was guilty of contempt of court because he made a deliberate attempt to defeat the March 31, 1999, order by continuing to publish the magazine bearing the word Viagra. The Court of First Instance judge jailed Li for a month but suspended it for a year.
'A deliberate breach of a court order is always a serious matter which is always looked upon by this court as such,' the judge said.
He added that the strongest mitigation was that only two editions of the magazine were issued and put on sale in April and May last year. The judge also accepted that Li had reconsidered the matter after those publications.
Pfizer Inc, Viagra's manufacturer, took Li to court to restrain him from further publishing the magazine, Wai Co Crazy Nights, - 'wai co' is Viagra's Chinese name - in February last year.
The magazine, which was sold for $20, also gave out a coupon for a free Viagra pill. In March last year, Li set up another company called Viagra Group Ltd to continue publication of the magazine under the name Nan Serei. But the Court of First Instance heard that the Chinese name of the company was also shown on the front cover, much bigger than the new title.
Li also admitted he thought it would be better for his business to use the Chinese characters for Viagra on the cover. The judge dismissed Li's claim that someone more senior was behind the business.
In mitigation, barrister Josiah Lee said Li had no ulterior motive to breach the order and said any form of immediate custodial sentence would be too harsh. Li was ordered to pay three-quarters of the costs to Pfizer.
