Sydney Simpsons bootlegger fined $1000
The Sydney Morning Herald and other outlets are reporting that the Sydney man who made a 'bootleg' recording of the Simpsons movie with his mobile phone, uploaded it to the Internet, and was subsequently charged with two criminal offences for so doing, has pled guilty and been fined $1000.
It's a bit of a joke really -- not because his punishment was so low, but because it shows up all the claims that the government was making about the copyright infringement notice scheme as a low-cost, low-hassle alternative to the 'traditional' methods of charging people and bringing them before a court.
This guy was fined $1000. If, instead of being charged with two copyright offences, he was given two infringement notices, he would have had to pay 12 penalty units for each one, with a penalty unit being worth $110, for a total of $2640.
That's right -- this villainous scourge of the motion picture industry, whose Crimes Against Hollywood were so great so as to cause the Attorney-General to weigh in, saying how good Australia's copyright laws were, and how seriously we take these issues, went to court the 'traditional' way and paid less than half of what he would have paid if he'd been given infringement notices.
This really gives the lie to the government claims that the fines associated with infringement notices would be less than if people took the matter to court.
It won't be long before MIPI, AFACT, and their ilk start bleating about Australia being a 'banana republic'. Again.
It's a bit of a joke really -- not because his punishment was so low, but because it shows up all the claims that the government was making about the copyright infringement notice scheme as a low-cost, low-hassle alternative to the 'traditional' methods of charging people and bringing them before a court.
This guy was fined $1000. If, instead of being charged with two copyright offences, he was given two infringement notices, he would have had to pay 12 penalty units for each one, with a penalty unit being worth $110, for a total of $2640.
That's right -- this villainous scourge of the motion picture industry, whose Crimes Against Hollywood were so great so as to cause the Attorney-General to weigh in, saying how good Australia's copyright laws were, and how seriously we take these issues, went to court the 'traditional' way and paid less than half of what he would have paid if he'd been given infringement notices.
This really gives the lie to the government claims that the fines associated with infringement notices would be less than if people took the matter to court.
It won't be long before MIPI, AFACT, and their ilk start bleating about Australia being a 'banana republic'. Again.
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