Arizona student guilty of Web piracy

A University of Arizona student is believed to be the first person in the nation to plead guilty under state Internet piracy laws. Parvin Dhaliwal, 18, was charged with uploading digital copies of recently released movies and music. He entered a guilty plea to possession of counterfeit marks, or unauthorized copies of intellectual property, a Class 6 Felony under Arizona's new piracy law, according to the Arizona state Attorney General's Office.

Dhaliwal was sentenced in January to three months in jail, three years probation and 200 hours of community service. He must also pay a $5,400 fine and take a university class on copyright issues. The illegally copied movies included ones that were still playing only in theaters at the time of their theft, including "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "The Cat in The Hat" and "Mona Lisa Smile."

[sarveta]

For the first time it does look like the punishment is appropriate. It will be good to have him talk to fellow classmates in high school and/or college about the importance of intellectual property and its protection.
Please refer to webcontentpiracy.com where we are trying make a difference...

[Brmd_Sloop]

hmmm... I would disagree. Intellectual property rights have come to a ridiculous point. The motion picture industry has been soaring. In Q1 of 2010 they had over 50% growth in sales, and yet they claim massive economic impacts. They lie! Plan and simple. The Government Accountability Office has released several reports debunking the various overblown statistics that they throw out.

5000 dollars? and 3 months in jail? 3 years probation? Elizabeth Hallums stabbed someone and she got the same sentence with less probation and less of a fine and less community service.

[Benfranklin5]

The movie industry has raised their prices drastically, but I dont know exactly this past five to seven years. This fact alone artificially inflates how much money they are making. A real measure would be ticket sales.

One important note to make is prices have been raised drastically. I lived in China and Vietnam for two years. Very few can actually afford to go to the theaters and very few do. Very few can buy a dvd for $15 or $20, which is the asking price for many newer dvd's. Some might say piracy in China or Vietnam will occur regardless of the price. I disagree.

Until the film industry realizes they are being too greedy, piracy will always exist. Personally, I havent seen a movie at a theater for several years because it is too cost prohibitive and must wait until it comes out on dvd Netflix. Well, I am an unemployed grad student who does not have much time to watch movies in the first place. However, I am open minded to see other POV's on both sides. Does Jim Carrey need $12 million dollars for his work for each film?