Celebrity English tutor Karson Oten Fan Karno, also known as K. Oten, was arrested for suspected infringement of copyright of public examination papers along with seven people in a raid by customs officers on tutorial centres.
K. Oten and the tutorial company through which he delivered video lessons both denied they had breached copyright rules in offering lessons to around 60 Form Six students at two centres in Admiralty and Yau Ma Tei.
The tutorial firm, Advanced Contemporary Education Centre, said yesterday it had never copied exam papers. 'The handouts used in tutorial classes offered by us were written, printed and distributed to students by the tutors themselves,' it said.
It had suspended classes taught by Oten and refunded cash to students. It said it would reserve the right to pursue damages.
Oten, in response to the school's statement, said responsibility for clearing copyright with the Examinations and Assessment Authority rested with the tutorial company, not the tutor. 'The centre, which provides consultations on overseas studies, hasn't had any experience in offering tutorials before,' Oten said. 'It didn't know it had to clear copyright with the exam authority before offering lessons.'
Since the Modern Education tutorial chain terminated its contract with him and sued him for more than HK$26 million for breach of contract in January, Oten has struck deals with 14 tutorial companies to stage his tutorials in their classrooms.
'Of the 14 tutorial [firms], only Advanced Contemporary committed the oversight of failing to clear copyright with the exam authority,' Oten said. Advanced Contemporary had refunded cash to all its 60 students affected and they had been enrolled at another tutorial centre in Yau Ma Tei.