A man has been jailed for 33 months after recording Fast And Furious 6 from the back of a cinema in Walsall.
A judge in Wolverhampton ruled that Philip Danks, 25, uploaded the movie, which was downloaded 700,000 times. The Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) claimed this meant “millions of pounds” lost for the film’s distributor, Universal Pictures.
Another man, Michael Bell, was also sentenced to a community order for 120 hours’ unpaid work. Bell, the former boyfriend of Danks’ sister, had played a part in uploading material, the court ruled. As well as putting the film on the internet, Danks offered to sell copies of the film using his Facebook profile.
‘Arrogant’
Danks had also used his profile to update his friends about his case – on 20 August, a day before his hearing, he wrote: “Not loking good.” The judge who sentenced Danks said his behaviour was “bold, arrogant and cocksure”. In a statement distributed by Fact, Det Sgt Rod Rose, of West Midlands Police, said: “We assisted the Federation Against Copyright Theft throughout this case with search warrants, forcing entry to addresses and making arrests. “We also supported with evidence recovery and interviewing suspects. “Fraud comes in many guises and ultimately affects all of us.” Police said that Danks had continued to illegally distribute movies after his arrest in May last year. Officers were able to trace him after he used the username TheCod3r to leave a comment on a well-known pirated movie website.
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