spudda used our news submit to tell us the latest in this MP3/WMAland case involving some Austrailian students. They were running a Napster like site that held copyrighted materials. However, they made no profit from their efforts. Lucky for them as they could well have ended up behind bars. Spudda makes a comment:
"This is a situation where the music industry is continuing to try and send a message, to discourage copyright infringement. They should however be concentrating more on those making a financial gain from it. The IPOD which was available long before MP3s legally were available to download, marketed on the success of music piracy through out the internet (even selling devices in Australia where even making mp3s of your own legally purchased CDs is illegal)."
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Federal Court Deputy Chief Magistrate Graeme Henson said although the actions of Charles Kok Hau Ng, 20, of Blacktown, and Peter Tran, 19, of Canley Heights were serious enough to warrant a custodial sentence, their sentences were suspended because they had made no monetary gain from the MP3/WMA Land website, that illegally offered more than 1000 songs for download. The case is believed to be the world's first successful criminal prosecution of a copyright infringement case involving the distribution of pirated music over the internet. Ng pleaded guilty to 22 charges of distributing and aiding and abetting the distribution of copyrighted material, while Tran pleaded guilty to 17 copyright charges. Le pleaded guilty to 29 less serious copyright charges. The offences each carry penalties of up to five years' jail and a $ 60,500 fine. |
Thanks spudda for this update. Fortunately these young people will serve no jail time and can put their college educations to good use in this world. I know what they did is wrong but still have a hard time seeing people dragged through the courts like this over music. Thank goodness they were not out for profit. You can read the rest of this AP article here .
Source: australianit.news.com.au
