Copyright Law

FBI Nabs ?Wolverine? Uploader

By Jared Moya

Indict New York man for illegally uploading a pirated copy of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” to web data hosting site Megaupload last spring.

According to an FBI press release, a New York man has been charged with illegally distributing a pirated copy of the movie ?X-Men Origins: Wolverine? last Spring in violation of federal copyright law, and was taken into custody yesterday morning.

Gilberto Sanchez, 47, who resides in The Bronx, was arrested at his home without incident. This arrest follows an indictment returned on December 10 by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles that charges Sanchez with uploading an unfinished workprint copy of ?X-Men Origins: Wolverine to web data hosting site Megaupload last spring.

The indictment was unsealed after Sanchez? arrest this morning.

Sanchez is expected to make his initial appearance today before a United States Magistrate Judge in New York.

The charge of uploading a copyrighted work to the Internet carries a statutory maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross gain or gross loss attributable to the offense, whichever is greater.

?We are supportive of the FBI?s actions, and we will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement to identify and prosecute any individuals who steal our movies,” said Chris Petrikin, a spokesman for 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the movie.

However, it’s not clear how Sanchez obtained a copy of the movie in the first place, and the FBI hasn’t said what role he played.

This means he may simply be one of a number of people involved in the crime.

For all the fuss “Wolverine” still enjoyed a $85 million dollar opening weekend payday and more than $373 million dollars in worldwide box office ticket sales proving that if a movie’s good people will pay to see it.

If movie studios really want to fight piracy it ought to focus on making good movies and improving the theater experience. The living room TV or PC monitor will never be a match for the sights and sounds of the big screen.

It’s that simple, and recent news that this year’s ticket sales shattered last year’s previous all-time record by 9% illustrate that fears of piracy are entirely overblown and without merit so long as studios produce movies people actually want to see.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

Full post as published by ZeroPaid on December 17, 2009 (boomark / email).