Arizona Prosecutes Teen for Internet Piracy

While Internet piracy and copyright infringement are usually thought of as federal crimes, one University of Arizona student found that that is not always the case.

Parvin Dhaliwal, 18, pleaded guilty last month in Maricopa County, Arizona, to possession of counterfeit marks, or unauthorized copies of intellectual property. The FBI, which had found copies of movies that had not yet been released on DVD on his computer, referred the case to the local level because Dhaliwal was 17 when he committed the crime, although he was 18 by the time he was charged, the county attorney's office said.

Usually Federal Offense

The Internet piracy conviction is believed to be the first under a state rather than federal law.

Dhaliwal was sentenced to a three-month deferred jail term, three years probation, 200 hours of community service and a US$5,400 fine. He is also forbidden from ever using peer-to-peer software again and must take a class on copyright infringement. If he had been prosecuted under federal law, Dhaliwal would have faced a mandatory minimum sentence of three months in jail.

The county attorney's office said Dhaliwal's computer contained $50 million worth of movies and music, but there was no explanation of how that figure was arrived at.

FBI Investigation

The FBI works hand-in-hand with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) by monitoring file-sharing Web sites. The pirated material, which prosecutors said Dhaliwal was copying and selling, was found through a search warrant issued to a federal task force.

"The kid was stealing, he got caught, he got his hand slapped," David McClure, president of the U.S. Internet Industry Association, said about the case. "It could have been worse for him."

He told TechNewsWorld that he didn't believe the case had wide-ranging ramifications. Dhaliwal allegedly copied and sold the songs and movies, whereas much file sharing is done for personal use.

Thousands of Civil Suits

The RIAA has filed 9,100 lawsuits against people it claims have downloaded music files illegally; 1,900 of those have been settled.

McClure points out that none of the lawsuits has gone to court. The reason for this, he said, is that the RIAA is afraid it will lose. Its strategy, he added, is to seek less money to settle than it would cost those named in the suits to go to court.

"The whole RIAA lawsuit situation is going to look like the biggest marketing blunder of the century," McClure said. "How smart is it to sue your customers?"