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US man facing three years in prison for copying 'Hulk'
26.06.2003 5.26 pm
NEW YORK - A New Jersey man has pleaded guilty to making an unauthorised digital copy of a the new hit movie "Hulk" and showing the copyrighted movie on the internet in advance of last week's release in theatres.
Kerry Gonzalez, 25, appeared in Manhattan federal court while wearing an olive green suit and dark green tie. He pleaded guilty to one count of copyright infringement and faces a possible maximum three-year prison term.
Universal Studios, which is owned by Vivendi Universal SA, holds the copyright to the movie, an adaptation of the Marvel comic book featuring the green giant Hulk character. The movie opened at No. 1 at the box office, earning nearly $63 million in ticket sales over the weekend.
Gonzalez, who is free on a $25,000 personal bond, is to be sentenced on September 26. He told reporters after the hearing that he had never even watched the movie.
According to the complaint, about 2-1/2 weeks ahead of the June 20 nationwide release of Hulk, Universal sent copy of what is known as a work print to a Manhattan advertising agency. The work print, which was of somewhat lesser quality than the final film, was encoded with special security measures to stop unauthorised distribution including an embedded "tag" that allowed copies to be traced.
Although the ad agency had agreed that it would not permit anyone to make or distribute copies, one of its employees lent the print to a friend who in turn lent it to Gonzalez.
The defendant used his home computer to make a digital copy and ran a program aimed at editing out the security tag.
Gonzalez then uploaded the digitised copy of the work print on June 6 to an internet chat room hosted in the Netherlands. The site is frequented by movie enthusiasts who post and trade copies of bootleg movies.
A spokesman for the US attorney's office would not comment on the case or how Gonzalez was caught.
But Universal Pictures President Rick Finkelstein said in a statement the studio intended to "aggressively pursue those responsible for the theft of our property."
"Obviously, if this behaviour went unchecked, we would not be able to produce and deliver films of the calibre of 'Hulk' to the movie going public at large," he said.
- REUTERS
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