Closure

Would you believe that this is my 100th post? I had originally planned for my "centennial" post to be up on 1 January 2007 but alas, things that are planned rarely work out. Or is it just me? Hmmm....

Anyway, at the end of the year, I kept thinking about what a fellow blogger (you know who you are) said about "closure". For me, I've heard the term used on TV shows frequently but never put much thought into what it really meant or how it would affect one's perception of the future. So, "closure" was just another word I knew but did not fully understand.

In 2004, as a result of a mistake by a friend, my father's company was sued for over S$10,000 due to copyright infringement. At that time, intellectual property was something that was just surfacing and being taken seriously in Singapore but no one really knew what it entailed or where the boundaries were. It was an honest mistake and when we found out, we rectified the situation - 8 months before the legal notice was served. But that did not deter the plaintiff from arm-twisting and threats despite my meetings with them to explain the mistake, with irrefutable proof, as well as my father's financial position. As it turned out, there was no room for negotiations. The Director I met with, a burly man, seemed to take pleasure in seeing helpless people writhe in fear of legal consequences. When I say "people", it was not just my father's company that was affected. Newspaper reports indicated more than 500 companies have had letters of demand ranging between S$10,000 and S$100,000 shoved down their throats.

We didn't have much to go on and my father had no choice but to give in to their demands - in 12 installments. This bought me time to do some digging into this company's background. My hunch about the company paid off and I confronted them head on with my findings. After three paid installments, they backed off. But the fact that one human being can stand by and watch another human being suffer without any room for compassion, sympathy or understanding scarred me permanently. That "bad taste in my mouth" seemed like it would never go away - until 24 November 2006, that is.

I read in the papers that a company was being sued for infringement of copyright by selling materials originally produced by a Government authority well after their original agreement had expired. The name of this company stuck out like a sore thumb to me. I couldn't believe that this same company, which previously sued 500 companies for copyright infringement, is now on the receiving end of the charge. The phrase "what goes around, comes around" had new meaning.

Upon reading this article, I suddenly felt a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders and my mind - a weight which I carried for so long that it became a part of me. I whispered "Wish you were here to see this day" to my Dad in the hope he would be looking down on me and sharing my joy. He knew how much this took its toll on me mentally and it was the last fight we fought together before he became ill and passed on.

I do not know what the outcome of the Government authority's case against this unscrupulous company would be but it is nice to know that although the wheels of justice may grind slowly, it is important to realise that they do grind.

And with that, I find closure.