Picture: Flickr, quinn.anya (CC)
I guess they’re calling it Copyright Terrorism! This report shows just how friendly the recording industry is with your friendly neighborhood law enforcement.
Via RT:
A Mississippi man was sentenced to 15 years behind bars and another three under supervised release this week after pleading guilty to selling five counterfeit DVDs and one bootleg music CD to an undercover agent.
Patrick Lashun King, 37, was sentenced by Judge Lamar Pickard of Copiah County Circuit Court after he pleaded guilty to six counts of selling pirated material, charges that he was lobbed with after an undercover agent attempted to purchase just a half-dozen homemade copies of music and movies the defendant wasn’t authorized to have up for sale.
When investigators searched King’s home and businesses, they eventually turned up 10,510 counterfeit discs and the computer equipment they believe he used to manufacture the bootlegs. The Clarion Ledger notes that authorities also uncovered a number of weapons, including an assault rifle, from King’s Hazlehurst, MS home, but it was only the six counts of piracy that will put him away until 2027.
King’s sentencing is the second of two piracy cases resolved in Mississippi court as of late that resulted in hefty sentences for the accused. On October 31, Antwun Sharell Jones of Meridian, MS was sentenced to two years for selling a single pirated movie.
“Anyone who is selling counterfeit goods in Mississippi should be well aware by now that he or she will be arrested and will face a serious prison term,” State Attorney General Jim Hood remarked of the so-called successes.
Brad Buckles, executive vice president of anti-piracy for the Recording Industry Association of America RIAA), hailed the latest prosecution and told Hood it “demonstrates that theft of intellectual property is treated as a serious crime in Mississippi.”
[VIA Disinformation]
