At Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney yesterday, Mr Jose Duarte, 21, from Prairiewood in NSW, pleaded guilty to making an illegal camcord copy of the theatrical release of The Simpson’s Movie on his mobile phone and uploading it to the internet. A criminal conviction was recorded and he was fined $1,000.
Speaking after the conviction, Adrianne Pecotic, Executive Director of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) said: ‘This young man made a serious mistake when he thought he could get away with pirating someone else’s intellectual property. Ripping off a movie by recording it in a cinema and posting it on the internet is no joke. The consequences are most serious for Mr Duarte, and we commend the Australian Federal Police for their swift action in this case.’
On Thursday 26 July an illegal copy of The Simpsons Movie was identified by the Twentieth Century Fox, the film’s distributor, on the internet. Jose Duarte made an unauthorized recording of the film on his mobile phone at a cinema in the western suburbs of Sydney. Within hours of the film’s global release, but prior to its US release, he uploaded the film on to a US-based global streaming website.
His actions were not anonymous. Close international cooperation between the Australian Federal Police (AFP), AFACT and Twentieth Century Fox resulted in the speedy removal of the unauthorised recording of The Simpson’s Movie from his webpage within two hours of it being uploaded, and the subsequent raid on Mr Duarte’s home where his computer equipment and mobile phone were seized.
‘This case proves that people who record films in cinemas and upload them to the internet can be identified by the police and will be prosecuted.’
So far this year 8 cases of camcording have been intercepted in cinemas and reported to police after AFACT launched the ‘Make a Difference’ campaign to train cinema staff to identify and report illegal recording in cinemas.
‘50,000 Australians are impacted by film copyright theft. Community cinemas and rental stores rely on sure sellers like The Simpson’s Movie to keep their doors open and provide a wide range of other films for their customers to enjoy. Staff in every cinema are on the look out to report illegal filming to the police,’ said Ms Pecotic.
In October the film and television industry launched a major national anti-piracy campaign aimed at helping Australian movie-lovers understand that piracy is not a victimless crime. The ‘What Are You Really Burning?’ campaign asks Australians to consider that piracy has proven consequences that damage the film industry, threatening Australian jobs, filmmakers, cinemas, DVD stores and investment in future films.
[release from AFACT]