Friday, May 19, 2006

Two U.S. Men Get Jail Time for Music Piracy

An AFP newswire article, via Yahoo! News, reports that:

Two people who admitted being part of a ring that distributed illegal copies of music on the Internet before its commercial release were sentenced to prison terms of between six and 15 months.

The US Justice Department said three people had pleaded guilty to involvement in piracy groups responsible for millions of dollars of illegal distribution of copyrighted movies, software, games and music on the Internet.

George Hayes, 31, who admitted criminal copyright infringement in a pre-release group called "Chromance," or "CHR," was sentenced to 15 months in prison by US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, according to officials.

Separately, Judge Claude Hilton sentenced Aaron Jones, 30, to six months in prison and six months' home confinement. The judge also sentenced Derek Borchardt, 22, to six months' home confinement.

Jones and Borchardt each pleaded guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy to commit copyright infringement for their involvement in the pre-release music group "Apocalypse Crew," or "APC."

Another alleged APC member, Matthew Howard, 24, will be sentenced next week.

More here.

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