(LAWFUEL) – The Australian Federal Police (AFP) yesterday arrested two men from Parkinson in Brisbane for illegally distributing movies and television programs via a website. The 21-year-old and 27-year-old were charged with copyright and proceeds of crime offences.
Police will allege in court that the men managed an offshore website, which facilitated the sharing of movies among its 400,000 international members.
The men allegedly facilitated the transfer of over 10,000 terabytes of data, the equivalent of 14.3 million copies of movies and television programs.
It will also be alleged that the men received income from that website.
The investigation began earlier this year, when the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) received information about a website, which enabled the downloading of copyrighted movies by members of the public.
AFACT referred the matter to the AFP and a joint investigation commenced.
Search warrants were executed yesterday at the residence of the two men,
where three computers and in excess of 1200 DVDs were seized. Overnight approximately $50,000 was restrained in funds believed to have
been derived from the illegal activity. AFP National Manager for Economic and Special Operations Mandy Newton said the AFP would continue to take action to restrain the funds derived from organised intellectual property crime. “The AFP will continue to work closely with its industry partners against intellectual property crimes and to restrain the proceeds of those crimes,” Assistant Commissioner Newton said.
The men have been charged with distributing copyrighted material contrary to Section 132AI of the Copyright Act 1968 and dealing in proceeds of crime worth $10,000 or more contrary to Section 400.6 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.
The men were bailed last night to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on 18 December 2008. The maximum penalty for these offences is 10 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $66,000.
