Camcorder man charged in US with copyright theft

By Steve Malone

Posted on 5 Aug 2005 at 10:40

A man in the US has been charged under new laws aimed at stamping out illegal distribution of new films. The man, Curtis Salisbury, aged 19 of Missouri, was discovered recording new films with a camcorder while in a cinema.

Curtis is alleged to have made copies of the latest films 'Bewitched' starring Nicole Kidman and 'The Perfect Man' for distribution on the Internet through illegal warez sites.

This is now illegal in the US under a new federal law that came into force in April. If convicted Curtis faces up to 17 years in prison.

The arrest follows the recent crackdown on Warez sites by Federal authorities. This year alone Federal authorities have launched two major offensives against the so-called Warez sites that are the source of the majority of pirated material.

Coordinating raids across the world Operation Fastlink and Operation Site Down resulted in dozens of raids and the seizure of computers and material worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The pirated content confiscated ranges from music and movies to a range of software.

Last month, eight men were charged with conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement and copyright infringement.

As one of its major industries, the US is getting serious about cracking down on movie piracy. The film industry body in the US, the MPAA estimates that the film industry lost around $3.5 billion to movie piracy in 2004. This number does not include the include losses due to illegal file sharing via the Internet. According to a recent Smith Barney study, the level of piracy is expected to jump to $5.4 billion in 2005.

According to the MPAA, the use of camcorders accounts for 90 per cent of the movies that turn up on the Internet while still on first run in cinemas.