David Fish pleaded guilty in February to selling illegal copies of movies, music, software.
WASHINGTON -- A Woodbury, Conn., man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for operating Web sites where users could download unauthorized copies of movies, music and software titles, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
David M. Fish, 26, was sentenced Monday on criminal copyright infringement and circumvention charges in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, the DOJ announced late Tuesday. Prosecutors accused Fish of operating so-called warez sites offering downloads of thousands of products protected by copyright. In addition to a 30-month prison term, Judge Ronald Whyte sentenced Fish to three years of probation after his prison term and the forfeiture of computer and other equipment used in the copyright offenses.
Fish pleaded guilty on Feb. 27, 2006, to five counts, including four counts in the Northern District of California case for conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement; distribution of technology primarily designed to circumvent encryption technology protecting a right of a copyright owner and aiding and abetting; circumventing a technological measure that protects a copyright work and aiding and abetting; copyright infringement by electronic means and aiding and abetting. On the same day, Fish also pleaded guilty to one count of criminal infringement of a copyright on charges from the Southern District of Iowa, the DOJ said.
The two cases involved separate investigations, but the charges were prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California.
From about August 2004 to July 2005, Fish served as the operator, equipment supplier and scripter for warez sites, according to the charges in the California case. Fish also defeated technology measures designed to protect DVDs that had been copyrighted, the DOJ said.
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