Producers of the hit FOX series "24" were astonished to find copies of upcoming, never broadcast shows on the Internet, and they sprang into action leading them to a Chicago, Illinois man who could receive three years prison time if convicted. Perhaps the most important part of the indictment is how seriously the DOJ is going after someone simply for uploading a work that the target did not even steal. This shows the USDOJ is determined to act harshly against copyright infringers and it could signal a new day of dire punishments that literally millions of people might run afoul of, given how common such copyright breaches are today.
Producers of the hit FOX series "24" were astonished to find copies of upcoming, never broadcast shows on the Internet, and they sprang into action leading them to a Chicago, Illinois man who could receive three years prison time if convicted of uploading stolen episodes of the production, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Jorge Romero, 24, is accused of uploading four "24" episodes he claims to have found at the beginning of 2007 at an unnamed online locale and posting them to the site LiveDigital.com, where they found their way to YouTube, more than a week before their primetime TV premiere.
Perhaps the most important part of the indictment is how seriously the DOJ is going after someone simply for uploading a work that the target did not even steal. This shows the USDOJ is determined to act harshly against copyright infringers and it could signal a new day of dire punishments that literally millions of people might run afoul of, given how common such copyright breaches are today. These question will be answered to help better understand how important an event is Romero's prosecution: What is Jorge Romero Charged With & by Whom?; Why Would the DOJ Throw the Book at Romero for a Seemingly Minor Infringement?; What Law Was Used to Arrest Romero?; What Does this Case mean for the Future of Download Copyright Violators?
What is Jorge Romero Charged With & by Whom?
The FBI's criminal complaint, filed in Los Angeles, charges Romero "with uploading copyrighted material to a publicly accessible computer network knowing the work was intended for commercial distribution, a felony that carries a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison."
The charges against Romero were outlined in a press release by the USDOJ:
"A Chicago man was named today in a federal criminal complaint that alleges he uploaded the first four episodes of this season's "24" earlier this year before they were originally aired on the Fox television network.
Jorge Romero, 24, is accused of uploading the first two episodes of this season's "24" to the LiveDigital.com website on January 6 - eight days before it was broadcast on Fox. Romero is accused of uploading the second two episodes of "24" to the same website on January 7, the same day that he allegedly posted links to the uploads on other websites, which made it easier for people interested in seeing the unauthorized episodes to find them. Fox broadcast the first four episodes of "24" on January 14 and 15, and subsequently released the four-episode season premier on DVD.
According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Fox discovered the illegal uploads on LiveDigital.com on January 8. On April 4, special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation interviewed Romero, who admitted that he had obtained the pirated copies from another website, that he uploaded the episodes of "24" to LiveDigitial.com prior to them being aired by Fox, and that he put links to the uploads on another website.
Romero is charged in the criminal complaint with uploading copyrighted material to a publicly accessible computer network knowing the work was intended for commercial distribution, a felony that carries a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison."
The subpoena against Romero reads, in part:
"On or about January 8, 2007, Fox became aware that a subscriber ("the Subscriber") of YouTube Inc.s' Internet-based service uploaded pirated copies of the works onto YouTube, making it available for illegal viewing over the Internet to anyone who wishes to watch it. Fox has not authorized this distribution or display of the works. The subpoena request YouTube, Inc. to disclose information sufficient to identify the Subscriber so that Fox can stop this infringing activity."
Why Would the DOJ Throw the Book at Romero for a Seemingly Minor Infringement?
In the first place, this violation by Romero was not minor, but major and it used stolen tapes worth millions of dollars, since the show had not yet been telecast, the series is immensely popular, and that resale DVD's of the series are extremely profitable for FOX.
Twentieth Century Fox released a statement regarding the incident, "We are grateful to the FBI and U.S. Attorney's offices in Los Angeles for aggressively pursuing this matter, and we hope it will serve as a powerful warning that uploading copyrighted TV shows and movies to the Internet can be a crime with significant penalties and will be prosecuted as such. Video-hosting sites such as LiveDigital.com and YouTube are not copyright-free zones, and individuals like Jorge Romero who post episodes of television shows, particularly before they are even broadcast for the first time, will face harsh civil and criminal sanctions," added 20th Century Fox.
What Law Was Used to Arrest Romero?
When Fox executives were alerted to the copyright breach, shortly after the episodes appeared on LiveDigital, they moved to trace its origin. Originally, both LiveDigital and YouTube were served subpoenas under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) demanding they disclose the identities of the users who uploaded the episodes. YouTube was not named in the final indictment.
What Does this Case mean for the Future of Download Copyright Violators?
Technology attorney Raymond Van Dyke commented, saying "The theft of copyrighted material is a serious matter. Here, the posted materials were exceptionally sensitive and quite valuable. Ignorance of the law is no excuse, and the rights of content owners who invest millions of dollars in a television series must be protected," he said. This case is a landmark because while studios have been vigilant about detecting copyright violations on such user share sites such as YouTube, this is the first case were an individual has been charged.
Sean Kane, an attorney with Drakeford & Kane, said "Most individuals don't understand that copyright infringement is a real crime, punishable by fines of significant amounts of money and potentially time in prison. If copyright is not protected, you give less of a reason for content to be created." Kane added, "Given the value of intellectual property in today's world, that value needs to be protected, and significant penalties might be what it takes" to make that happen.
Cybercrime lawyer Parry Aftab claims, "The TV industry needs to be more vigilant now, and this is a sign that they're going to be looking at new ways to crack down on those who are downloading and sharing digital media that they don't have the right to share." Given that these episodes were offered for free on MySpace after broadcast, this type of piracy robs Fox of ad revenue, and "spits in the face" of that generosity, according to Aftab. "This is no different from getting a movie before it shows in theaters," claims Aftab. "They have no choice but to take it seriously, because if they don't catch it early, they won't be able to stop it at all."
