Man Admits Copying

[dudevenezuela]

Man Admits Copying 'The Hulk' Before Premiere
Wed Jun 25, 5:26 PM ET Add Technology - Internet Report to My Yahoo!



NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New Jersey man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to making an unauthorized digital copy of a the new hit movie "The Hulk" and showing the copyrighted movie on the Internet in advance of last week's release in theaters.


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 (NYSE:V - news), 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 Sept. 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 The 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 unauthorized 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 loaned the print to a friend who in turn loaned 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 digitized copy of the work print on June 6 to an Internet Web site chat room hosted from the Netherlands. The site is frequented by numerous movie enthusiasts who post and trade copies of bootleg movies.


A spokesman for the U.S. 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 behavior went unchecked, we would not be able to produce and deliver films of the caliber of 'The Hulk' to the movie going public at large," he said.

[dudevenezuela]

Man Pleads Guilty to Bootlegging `Hulk'
Wed Jun 25, 8:45 PM ET


NEW YORK - A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Wednesday to making a bootleg copy of the action film "The Hulk" and posting it on the Internet before the movie was released in theaters.



Kerry Gonzalez, 24, of Hamilton, N.J., faces six months to a year in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 26. He pleaded guilty to a single count of copyright infringement.


Officials at Universal Studios, which produced the film, alerted the FBI (news - web sites) in early June when the pirated copy of the movie began circulating online.


The government said in court papers that Universal had given a copy to a Manhattan advertising agency, and that an agency employee had given it to a friend who gave it to Gonzalez. He then made it available in a chat room used to post and trade unauthorized movie copies.


In a statement, Universal Pictures officials said that studios owed it to the millions of law-abiding moviegoers to make sure online piracy does not go unchecked.

[dudevenezuela]

Gonzalez then uploaded the digitized copy of the work print on June 6 to an Internet Web site chat room hosted from the Netherlands. The site is frequented by numerous movie enthusiasts who post and trade copies of bootleg movies

Which chat is it ??

[dudevenezuela]

groggman is that you ??? jk

[MetroStars]

Only a fellow New Yorkian could get the Hulk first...

i miss home so much...

[AznRocky]

woah scary

[DICKWAD]

U R SO FULL OF SHIT BEANER

[Jibbler]

I wonder if this was a setup by Universal studios. I checked out the group who released it, SMF (does this stand for Stupid Mother Fuckers?), and they have only a few releases, nothing of any quality. I'm thinking this group is run by the FEDS. What do you guys think?

[well_butter_my_arse]

Probably are mate fuck knows think somone needs bitchslapping

[pimpdaddy]