AfterDawn: News

Six jailed for piracy offenses in UK

Six men has been handed jail sentences for piracy offenses in the United Kingdom. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) claims that an internet piracy ring that specialized in the production and sale of counterfeit DVDs has been broken up. The "Pir8" web forums apparently facilitated the selling of pirate material to over 13,000 users.

FACT prosecuted the case which followed a three year investigation and prosecution by FACT into the group. Assistance in the investigation was given by the BPI (the record industry trade body) Anti-Piracy Unit. Here is the list of the men aged 21 to 37 with their Pir8 nicknames and sentences.

Lee Richard Bennett ('Mack'), from South Normington, Derbyshire, and the owner of the PIR8 site was sentenced to four years imprisonment.

Barry Jarvis ('Leafy'), from Johnstown, Wrexham, the website administrator, was sentenced to one year's imprisonment.

Kevin Bowles ('Taz'), from Doncaster, but living in Darlington at the time of the offences received a one year jail sentence.

Robert Chester ('Killalot'), from Eastbourne, Sussex, also a received one year jail sentence.

Jason Morgan ('Monkfish'),from Lanchester, Co. Durham and Christopher Pomroy ('Trinity'), from Stretford, Greater Manchester were sentenced to six months' imprisonment.

Karl Smith ('Toon'), from Peterlee, Co. Durham and Marcus Jones, from Brynteg, Anglesey,were sentenced to 240 hours Community Punishment Orders.

Adrian Hodgson ('Eda'), from Kingston Upon Hull, was sentenced to 200 hours Community Punishment Order.

Also sentenced was Paul Bowes, from Co. Durham, who was not part of the conspiracy but pleaded guilty to manufacturing pirate DVDs. He was sentenced to 150 hours’ Community Punishment Order.

Source:
FACT UK

Thanks to gilford69 for the News Submission

Written by: James Delahunty @ 13 Dec 2006 14:25

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• 32 comments

• borhan9

  hahahaha. I found it funny about the community service orders. Well done :)

  13.12.2006 18:16 #1

• tabletpc

  and this doesn't solve anything they will get out and continue to sell pirated goods that is what they do in th u.k
  

  13.12.2006 23:10 #2

• xjman349

  LOL I am so confused why I find this so funny!

  13.12.2006 23:56 #3

• sj512

  the only way to stop Copyright to dvd is to put more tax on DVD-R if you sell bootlegs of films you are going to jail backing up you films and games you have are ok to me and if you download it buy it
  
  

  14.12.2006 03:42 #4

• Sir-Age

  Good work to get them in caught.
  Well all I can say is that it is a bit better than sending them to jail for 10-20 years like they do in other countries!

  14.12.2006 06:04 #5

• westbrom

  easy way to stop piracy,
  It cost allmost the same price as the film to protect it ( f.a.c.t.. macro ect.. )..so sell the film the price it would be without the price of the protection = £15.99 - £10 protection = £5. Then no1 would go out and buy a pirate film for £3 when they get original for a £5 and every1 would be happy

  14.12.2006 07:26 #6

• sj512

  this will not stop the cam dvd out there people want the films all most when they come out if you had to pay 15 pound for a blank and 5 or 6 pounds for retail
  this will stop piracy full stop on the black market
  
  

  14.12.2006 07:36 #7

• westbrom

  yea your right with cam stuff, but being ripped off for retail stuff and then not letting you back your own copy up incase your original gets scratched is out of order, and they are just greedy and forcin all this piracy on themselves..i would pay £5 a original with no protection so i could make a second copy, then pay thru black market anyday... also a film came out 3 months ago for £15 and its only £5 now in shops.. SO IT SEEMS A LOT OF FUSS FOR 3 MONTHS TO ME

  14.12.2006 07:49 #8

• DVDdoug

  Quote:...if you had to pay 15 pound for a blank and 5 or 6 pounds for retail this will stop piracy full stop on the black market Now there’s a plan….
  
  Maybe I could make some money by smuggling-in cheap black-market blanks… HA! HA!
  
  
  

  14.12.2006 08:49 #9

• andy1982

  All every film/game company needs to do is offer a free disc replacement service.
  If your origional gets damaged/scratched simply mail it back and they send you a replacement.
  No more need for 'backing up'.

  14.12.2006 08:58 #10

• sj512

  i think disney is doing that on there dvds offer a free disc replacement

  14.12.2006 09:01 #11

• westbrom

  I DONT DISAGREE WITH PIRACY, WHO EVER DOES IT IS GOOD LUCK TO THEM, BUT TO STOP IT IS IN THE MAKERS HANDS TO TONE DOWN ON PRICES AND BE FAIR WITH THE BUYERS... THATS ALL, AND THEY SHOULD USE MONEY IN COURTS TO LOCK UP REAL CRIMINALS INSTEAD OF DELBOYS MAKIN A COUPLE OF QUID , AS YOU SAY MORE PEOPLE COPY CAM RECORDINGS OFF CINEMAS THEN THEY DO ORIGINALS

  15.12.2006 06:04 #12

• frankacne

  When I consider the dreadful movies that come out of the USA and occasionally from the UK I think it would be more appropriate to prosecute people on grounds of bad taste or pollution rather than copyright infringement. We all know how greedy and hipocritical the film and music business are and how ready they always are to release their parasitic hounds (RIAA and MPA) at the slightest whiff of profit. Consequently, If anyone is going to take the trouble to set up a piracy ring and risk prosecution and imprisonment then they should at least be a little choosy about what they copy. When the originals are such crap, who should want a copy? Hollywood, who needs them ?

  16.12.2006 10:29 #13

• akaangus

  I know I'm going to get flamed for this comment, but it's good that they were sentenced. You shouldn't be profiting off something that you have no right to. It is one thing to post files for free online for people to share (which I have no problem with), and another to exploit people for money for them. It's like the people who sell Kubuntu and OpenOffice on eBay, that should be a crime too.

  16.12.2006 14:32 #14

• lbbz

  @andy1982
  "All every film/game company needs to do is offer a free disc replacement service.
  If your origional gets damaged/scratched simply mail it back and they send you a replacement.
  No more need for 'backing up'."
  No, for several reasons:
  1. Such a service would, at best, be availabie for a very short time.
  2. Severe limitations would be in place: proof of purchase; reason for damage...
  3. You would have to pay for delivery, both ways. Plus, it would take time.
  4. They wouldn't agree to do this, as it would potentially cost them lots more than they make:
  repeat{break(disc); demand(replacement(disc))} until company.isBankrupt();
  
  The only thing that WOULD help is to distribute very cheap DVDs at the same time the movies appear in cinemas, AND allow other methods of acquirement (downloading), with NO strings attached, so they can be backed up and stored by the dozens while taking up little space (a cake of fifty scratch-proof TDK DVDs, each with 3 HQ 1,4GB encodes + PAR2 recovery data).
  Forgetting pirate hunts and DRM would allow such price cuts that they would no longer be needed.

  16.12.2006 22:28 #15

• bertf

  lbbz is absolutely right - it's the movie makers' busines model that is well past its sell by date - they need to launch in all formats at the same time and ditch their price/profit models which are all self perpetuating anyway, without maximising either sales or profits.

  17.12.2006 04:29 #16

• Gonzo1

  Idiots that copy Dvds for profit should be jailed no question, but whats the harm in backing up or copying Dvds that you have purchased or rented legally for your own use? This smacks of big brother watching!It's not as if the film companies are not making a huge amount of profit even though pirates are operating.

  17.12.2006 07:29 #17

• westbrom

  GONZO I AGREE, BACK YOUR OWN COPY UP AS LONG AS ITS NOT FOR MONEY, I LIKE THE IDEA

  17.12.2006 08:27 #18

• sj512

  backing up dvds what you have or ok the only way to stop bootlegs is to stop making blank DVD-R and dvd burners if you can not buy them you can not sell them
  
  

  17.12.2006 11:54 #19

• drukqs

  i think the site was wickeddownloads aka tazboard, but im not for certain.

  17.12.2006 13:03 #20

• Spark1912

  It has always puzzled me how the rich have been able to brainwash the poor to protect their riches so well. Just like why is it always the poor who continue to raise money for an operation for some poor kid and there is always a rich guy standing right there who could easily foot the bill. Shouldn't we start thinking about putting an end to these imbalances. Just because they're ambitious and talented why should we keep being bilked. I'm about tired of it. When will they ever have enough. A limit should be set on how much money a person can have and maybe someday they won't be able to sway everything their way through money. And their you have it from a poor American who is a bit pissed off at the rich. Ivor

  17.12.2006 14:21 #21

• sj512

  so you are saying people how do not have a lot of money break the law people how have a lot of money have a good job most people in the uk like to sit on the backsite and get money for nothing then take the piss on people how have a lot of money and have good jods
  
  

  18.12.2006 00:53 #22

• BE11WOOD

  A THREE YEAR INVESTIGATION JUST FOR THAT HOW MUCH TAXPAYERS MONEY WAS SPENT WHEN IT COULD OF BEEN PUT INTO NHS FOR INSTANCE THIS JUST PROVES WITH CRIME ON THE INCREASE POLICE JUST WANT SIT ROUND FOR THREE YEARS WHEN THEY COULD BE CATCHIN A DRUGDEALER INSTEAD WHATS THIS COUNTRY COMING TO

  18.12.2006 03:11 #23

• Spark1912

  sj512, I think it is "who" not "how". Anyway, i'm not talking about people who have jobs. The rich don't have jobs. Think about it mate.

  18.12.2006 04:11 #24

• SANDY13

  When these guys come out & start their business again, I am very sure they would pick up some new TRICKS in the jail.

  19.12.2006 03:58 #25

• dragonbaz

  OK how about say 5 or 6 pounds for the film and pay another 1 or 2 pounds to allow you to make one backup, if they put a card in the dvd case to fill in and send to the film company to register your film to you it cost them nothing, they make a few quid you get a backup !!

  19.12.2006 23:03 #26

• wired_

  The law should be doing better things with tax payers money than running around arresting pirates. I'm not saying that I agree with piracy but that if all real crime (EG. terrorism, murder, rape, DRUGS etc...) has been eliminated then they should go to work on the pirates!

  20.12.2006 01:19 #27

• blueyond

  Let us face the truth for what it is worth. If everybody buying legit DVDs etc showed a united front in not paying over inflated prices. There would not be a market for pirated software etc. The people setting the price for these goods are themselves very wealthy and no doubt think the price is reasonable and so it is when you consider their bank balances. £25 for a film is nothing to them but here in the UK that represents 4-5 hours work. Just stop and think what a rich mans 4-5 hours of work could buy them. It is a diferent world for them and most have got there by riding on the backs of the disavantaged. There is so much wrong with this world and exploitation and greed are among the main contenders causing this. If DVDs were say £5 this would make a lot of people happy and piracy would be a thing of the past. I am well past 60 years old and have seen the gradual decline in value for money over many years. All big busines are on the bandwagon offering goods and services at a price which far exceeds production costs. Sadly the more money they make enables them to dictate the price they are willing to pay to buy in these services, normally to the detriment of the producers. As an example Supermarkets, they can offer inducements like 2 for one and still show a profit. ( off topic I know but does emphasise my point.) So it is greed greed and more greed that is driving this world. The answer is in our hands if only we are willing to take it. Boycott high prices on a unified front and a lot of problems facing this world will disappear. A lot of people in the UK are in prison for minor crime and we have now reached the stage that our jails have no vacancys for real thugs and criminals Drug dealers Peados etc. Murderers and peados in the uk get life which means about 5 years on average. The world has truly gone mad or at least the UK is getting there. This is probably why,some of the above mentioned only got community service. Here in the UK we have it even worse, if you think you are getting ripped off in the US then a trip over here would open your eyes to the exploitation we suffer. Apathy reigns here as well as a lot of other countrys.

  20.12.2006 02:38 #28

• Spark1912

  HI: I'm 57 and have seen lot of changes here in the US. I'm glad I'm this age as I won't have to watch the decline much longer. I'm so sick of the greed. It's been going on since before the Pharoes and I don't know when it will stop, if ever. The only way it will stop is a couple three thousand years when the majority of the human race start to have functioning brains and they can see beyond the ends of their noses. What a pathetic little group we are. There you have it. Ivor

  20.12.2006 15:25 #29

• westbrom

  4get all this... there is 1 word for companys that charge over the odds and give yo nowt back....................... GREED

  20.12.2006 23:32 #30

• Colzz

  No good can come from sending these people to jail. Jail is a life destroying experience.
  
  Seize their computers and other assets. Garnish their wages. I don't believe making money from pirated movies/software is right, but I would wish jail on only the very worste people in society.

  4.1.2007 16:20 #31

• revengine

  Justice lol, if you have the right money you can pay your way out of almost anythying. The Justice system needs to get their priorities in line. They remind me of the IRS threatening the little guys and ammending or taking the big Corps word for how much they truly made last year.
  

  crackmeup

  6.1.2007 17:15 #32