REDWOOD SHORES, CA, March 12, 2015 – ABS-CBN International scored two recent legal victories in its determined fight against piracy.
In February, Fernando Bernabe who faced charges in Long Beach, California criminal court for the second time under California Penal Code 653w(A) (1) and California Penal Code 29800 (A) (1) for selling pirate DVDs of ABS-CBN movies and TV shows at his movie rental store, as well as for possession of a gun, pled guilty and was sentenced to one year in prison.
Bernabe is required to pay restitution of nearly $10,000 to the victim, ABS-CBN International, as well as court fines and fees. Bernabe will be on probation when he finishes his one-year jail sentence. If he violates probation and sells pirated DVDs again, he will return to jail for a four-year prison term.
In late January, Mary Smith of Barooga, New South Wales, Australia, who was the largest eBay seller of pirated ABS-CBN DVDs, pled guilty to all charges in Finlay Court in Australia. Prior to her arrest, the Australian police executed a warrant on Smith’s home and seized a large number of suspect ABS-CBN DVDs, hard disk drives, machinery and materials used to copy DVDs and mail them to customers.
Smith pled guilty on January 29, 2015 to all charges including (1) dishonestly obtaining property by deception contrary to section 192E(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1900 by dishonestly reproducing and on-selling unauthorized compact disk copies of movies and television series, the property of ABS-CBN Corporation, encompassing ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc., Star Cinema and ABS-CBN International; (2) dealing with property suspected to be the proceeds of crime contrary to section 193C(1) of the Crimes Act 1900 by dealing with unauthorized reproduced compact disks of movies and television series that there are reasonable grounds to suspect are the proceeds of crime; and (3) selling or hiring an infringing copy of a work contrary to section 132AE(1) of the Copyright Act 1968 by selling infringing copies of works being unauthorized reproduced compact disks of movies and television series, the property of ABS-CBN Corporation, encompassing ABS-CBN Film Productions, Inc., dba Star Cinema and ABS-CBN International.
Smith was not sentenced to jail this time as it was her first offense but was ordered to pay compensation to ABS-CBN for all profits she made from the sale of the unauthorized copied DVDs and pay criminal court fees.
“It is a responsibility to curb unlawful and unauthorized reproduction and use of content owned by others. It is theft. Like what many others in the industry who believe in and share this responsibility, we will continue to go after those who knowingly steal and benefit from this illegal practice,” said ABS-CBN AVP of Global Anti-Piracy Elisha Lawrence.
“We at ABS-CBN are not alone in the anti-piracy war. We are joining in the efforts of a worldwide industry affected by piracy which unites with the global creative community and believes in justly protecting their intellectual property,” said ABS-CBN Global COO Raffy Lopez.
