3 Charged With Pirating Best, Worst Films

(CBS/AP)  Three men have been charged with uploading pirated copies of Hollywood movies to the Internet - including two Oscar-nominated films.

A federal grand jury indicted Owen Moody of San Marcos and Derek Hawthorne of Moorpark on Friday in two separate cases of federal copyright violation, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Moody is charged with uploading "Slumdog Millionaire" while Hawthorne is charged with uploading copies of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Australia."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation told both men to surrender to authorities next week. If convicted, they face three years in prison and a fine of at least $250,000.

Prosecutors say Jack Yates of Porter Ranch was arrested last week for making an illegal copy of "The Love Guru," which he distributed to friends who uploaded the movie.

Yates worked at a company that was hired by Paramount Pictures to make a "screener" copy of the film for "The Tonight Show."

Yates is scheduled to be arraigned March 16. He faces six years in prison because he's also charged with making false statements to the FBI.

The cases against Moody and Hawthorne were investigated by the U.S. Secret Service; the case against Yates is the result of an investigation by the FBI.

[sabre1111]

if they waited 2 months and stole the movies from their local Blockbuster they''d be looking at a $200 fine and 3 days in jail.

something doesn''t add up here???



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Posted by Billpl

Manslaughter - two years.

Stealing intellectural property - three years.

I see...

[rsmik]

Thank you FBI, our nation is safe once again!

[wilsoncock78]

CHRIS BROWN(RIANNA FAME) HAS 1000'S OF PIRATED MOVIES IN HIS HOME..

[wilsoncock78]

CHRIS BROWN(RIANNA FAME) HAS 1000'S OF PIRATED MOVIES IN HIS HOME..

[wilsoncock78]

CHRIS BROWN(RIANNA FAME) HAS 1000'S OF PIRATED MOVIES IN HIS HOME..

[billpl-2009]

"...If convicted, they face three years in prison and a fine of at least $250,000...."

if they waited 2 months and stole the movies from their local Blockbuster they'd be looking at a $200 fine and 3 days in jail.

something doesn't add up here???

[akakjb]

Where are you getting your numbers from? Having worked in this business for over 30 years, the only major change I've see from the digital download age is that garbage no longer makes a ton of money. Imagine that, H-town will have to actually try and produce something worth spending money to see instead of regurgitated dreck like Love Guru. The pennies I'd spend in bandwidth would be too much to spend on that movie - I wanted my money back and I got PAID to see it! Take a look at the most traded movies online and you'll see that those same movies are the ones making the most money at the box office. The assertions that the industry loses a half million dollars per film put on the internet (or per trade, as the MPAA would like us to believe) is complete hogwash. Obviously the studios have to make some attempt to do something about it lest they lose their copyright control but that says more about the need to change the antiquated copyright laws than it does the real damages involved with situations like this.

[mljohns00]

They should certainly go to prison for pirating "Love Guru". There must be laws against poor taste.

[frankie2fing]

Why does the federal government waste resources on what are basically civil infractions? If someone stole something from me, would the FBI get involved? No. Why can''t Hollywood do it''s own dirty work?
Posted by hotwitch

While I understand your angst about this, the FBI would get involved if someone stole half-million dollars from you, which is the low side of the loss Hollywood stands to lose. We slam small people who break the law, but allow the credit companies to legally rip off the general population to the tunes of billions.

[hotwitch]

Why does the federal government waste resources on what are basically civil infractions? If someone stole something from me, would the FBI get involved? No. Why can't Hollywood do it's own dirty work?