First Criminal Copyright Infringement Sentence Imposed for a
Cyberlocker Operator
The operator of the RockDizMusic.com music piracy website
and cyberlocker was sentenced today to serve 36 months in prison, announced
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s
Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente of the Eastern District of
Virginia and Special Agent in Charge Clark E. Settles of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Washington,
D.C.
Rocky P. Ouprasith, 23, of Charlotte, North Carolina, was
sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the Eastern
District of Virginia. In addition to his
prison term, Ouprasith was sentenced to serve two years of supervised release
and was ordered to forfeit $50,851.05 and pay $48,288.62 in restitution. On Aug. 21, 2015, Ouprasith pleaded guilty to
one count of criminal copyright infringement.
According to admissions made in connection with his guilty
plea, between May 2011 and October 2014, Ouprasith operated RockDizMusic.com, a
website originally hosted on servers in France and later in Canada, from which
Internet users could find and download infringing digital copies of popular,
copyrighted songs and albums. Ouprasith
admitted that he obtained digital copies of copyrighted songs and albums –
including “pre-release” songs that were not yet commercially available to
consumers – from online sources and encouraged and solicited others, referred
to as “affiliates,” to upload digital copies of copyrighted songs and albums to
websites, including RockDizFile.com, that were hosted on servers in Russia,
France and the Netherlands, and that hosted hyperlinks to content being offered
for download on RockDizMusic.com.
Ouprasith further admitted that to encourage such activity, he agreed to
pay the affiliates based on the number of downloads from his website.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America,
in 2013, RockDizFile.com was the second-largest online file-sharing website
specializing in the reproduction and distribution of infringing copies of
copyrighted music in the United States.
Ouprasith admitted that in 2013 and 2014, he either ignored or pretended
to take remedial action in response to complaints from copyright holders and
their representatives that the website contained links to infringing copies
protected songs and albums.
In October 2014, federal law enforcement authorities shut
down RockDizMusic.com and RockDizFile.com, and law enforcement authorities in
the Netherlands and France seized file-hosting servers utilized by Ouprasith.
According to court documents, the market value of
Ouprasith’s illegally-pirated material was more than $6 million.
This case is being investigated by HSI. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant
Deputy Chief for Litigation John H. Zacharia of the Criminal Division’s
Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S.
Attorney Randy Stoker of the Eastern District of Virginia. The CCIPS Cyber Crime Lab and the Criminal
Division’s Office of International Affairs, as well as Dutch, French and
Canadian law enforcement officials have provided significant assistance.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment