A Memphis man faces 20 years in prison for allegedly stealing pre-release copies of popular movies and leaking them online, spurring tens of millions in losses
Authorities charged a 37-year-old Memphis man for allegedly stealing pre-release DVDs and Blu-rays of movies such as F9: The Fast Saga, Godzilla vs. Kong, Dune, and Black Widow and selling them before they were available to the public. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the charges. Authorities have been cracking down on illegal copyright infringement and intellectual property cases, given the substantial impact on businesses targeted. Law enforcement agencies have collected nearly $3 billion worth of seizures in recent years.
The Department of Justice charged Steven R. Hale, 37, with two counts of criminal copyright infringement and a single count of transportation of stolen goods on Thursday after he allegedly nabbed DVDs and Blu-ray discs of major movies and sold them online.
Authorities said Hale worked for a DVD distribution company where, from February 2021 to March 2022, he allegedly schemed to steal pre-release copies of films as they were being prepared for commercial distribution. Hale allegedly stole Blu-rays and DVDs such as Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, F9: The Fast Saga, and Dune.
A Blu-ray he allegedly heisted and sold, Spider-Man: No Way Home, was ripped from the disc—meaning a digital copy was extracted—and made available over the internet and illegally downloaded millions of times, officials said. The estimated loss to the copyright owner, Sony Pictures Entertainment, was estimated by DOJ officials as tens of millions of dollars.
The FBI is currently investigating the case. If convicted, Hale faces five years on each count of copyright infringement and 10 years on stolen goods. Attempts to reach Hale were unsuccessful. Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal and state officials have been increasingly rooting out criminal cases of copyright infringement in recent years, and laws protecting copyright and its intersection with AI are expected to shape the legal landscape going forward. The DOJ said enforcement agencies have collected more than $2.7 billion worth of products as part of joint enforcement among federal, state, and local law enforcement. As of January 2024, the Copyright Claims Board reported 644 cases involving infringement claims.
In a case last June, five Nevada men were convicted for allegedly running the largest unauthorized and illicit streaming service in U.S. history. Jetflicks, as it was called, reproduced thousands of popular movies and TV shows like Game of Thrones and amassed a streaming catalog with more content than Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, and Amazon Prime—combined. The subscription-based service charged users $9.99 a month and generated millions in revenue, according to the Justice Department.
Similarly, Minnesota man Joshua Streit, also known as Josh Brody, was sentenced to three years in prison for illegally hacking Major League Baseball computer systems and streaming copyrighted content from MLB, the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL on a website he operated. Streit pleaded guilty to computer intrusion and was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution and $500,000 in forfeiture.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
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