September 21, 2010
A university graduate who regularly recorded cinema blockbusters on his smartphone has been jailed for six months in a landmark ruling. Emmanual Nimley visited his local cinema in Harrow, London multiple times in recent months, recording the latest movies on his iPhone and uploading them to illegal file-sharing websites. But the 22-year-old was arrested earlier this year after police tracked the serial numbers of movies recorded on his phone to the Harrow cinema. Mr Nimley admitted ten charges against him relating to the illegal copying and distributing of copyrighted material. He went on to admit a further four charges after pressure from his family. Sentencing him to six months in prison at Harrow Crown Court today, Judge John Anderson said: 'It may be suggested in some quarters especially among young people that this is harmless fun and film in the cinema is fair game. “It is not. Your action was a deliberate cheat on the film companies and the film industry,” ruled the judge. “Fraudulently making and distribution of copies for whatever purpose and whatever quality has the effect of depriving the film industry of revenue.” With the government’s new Digital Economy Act preparing for enforcement, and increased promises to crack down on the copyright epidemic blighting Britain and the world’s creative industries, the UK Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has praised the ruling as “ground-breaking”. “I think it's a very important sentence because it's a deterrent for others. No one has ever been jailed for it,” commented FACT Director General Kieron Sharp. As legal measures against copyright thieves heighten, those currently engaging in the illegal activity have been warned to watch their step in the near future.