A Missouri man has been indicted under provisions of the recently passed Family Entertainment and Copyright Act.
Legislation signed into law back in April could put 19 year-old Curtis Salisbury in jail for several years and cost him $500,000 in fines, according to Mercury News. He stands accused of violating the Artists’ Rights and Theft Protection Act, a part of the FECA law.
The Justice Department alleges in a five-count indictment that Mr. Salisbury used a camcorder to capture “A Perfect Man” and “Bewitched,” and that he then uploaded them to unnamed file-sharing networks. He has been accused of downloading “Madagascar” as well as the software video editing programs Sony Sound Forge V8.0, Adobe Premier Pro V7.0 and Adobe Premier Pro V1.5 Proper..
The indictments were handed down by a federal grand jury in San Jose. Mr. Salisbury’s arrest comes in the wake of ongoing investigations into online piracy. Operation Copycat, being run by the FBI, is part of an international effort known as Operation Site Down.
Mr. Salisbury allegedly told others how to remove information from a recording that would identify the particular theater. He also requested payment for the movies he uploaded via money orders sent to a PO box, according to the indictment.
“Over 90% of initial releases that are pirated are a result of people camcording in movie theaters,” MPAA president and CEO Dan Glickman said in The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s why we worked with Congress and the president to pass crucial legislation strengthening penalties against people who camcord movies in theaters and make them available to the public on the Internet.”
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
