Hong Kong movie pirate sentenced

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 7 Nov 2005 at 17:12

A Hong Kong man convicted of movie piracy using the BitTorrent service has been sentenced to three months.

Unemployed 38-year-old Chan Nai-ming was convicted last month of distributing three movies: Daredevil, Red Planet and Miss Congeniality; making him the first BitTorrent user to be successfully prosecuted for the offence. Chan pleaded not guilty.

Despite the sentence of three months running concurrently, Chan filed an appeal and was freed on bail of HKD$5,000 (£371).

He potentially faced a jail term of four years on top of a fine.