Five Individuals Indicted by Department of Justice for Piracy

• A federal grand jury indicted five men for selling pre-release copies of TV shows and movies on the internet.
• The individuals from UAE, Malaysia, India and the UK were indicted in a Californian court.
• The guilty individuals were responsible for selling hundreds of copies of TV shows and movies since 2013.

Five individuals from four countries were found guilty of distributing movies and TV shows before their release. The individuals were involved in piracy of movies like The Expendables 3, The Walking Dead and a number of other popular titles. Unlike instances of movies and TV shows being leaked past their release and only when good quality streams or discs are available to copy the downloadable videos from, cases of piracy before release can be quite damaging.

The grand jury that was present in the Department of Justice’s indictment against the individuals accused them of piracy for their activity between May 5, 2013, and May 20, 2015. Of the five individuals, only one of them have been detained and is awaiting trial.

The piracy group worked together by renting servers and stored copied of movies and TV shows that they illegally obtained from other sources. The pre-release copies are usually “cam” copies that involve recording the content from private screenings.

The Department of Justice revealed in its official statement during the indictment “This case is being investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, which received substantial assistance from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit of the City of London Police. U.S. authorities received cooperation from French and Canadian authorities in obtaining evidence stored abroad.”

Torrent websites often host pre-release movies and TV shows, and companies are targeted by copyright holders all over the world. However, such measures are rarely ever effective as there are always clone websites and private forums that internet users can go to for downloads. Pre-release piracy can have damaging consequences and affects the initial viewership of movies and TV shows.

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