14 DAY TRIAL // Did you know that if you're caught using burned discs for your indoors entertainment you could be sentenced to hundreds of hours of Community Service? I'm sure you're thinking "naa, this can't happen to me," but it can. Hear this fellow's story and think again whether you should mod your gaming system, or use pirated software, music and film on your PC.
43 year old John Hamilton is a man who was prosecuted after being caught in his home with over 800 illegally copied Xbox and PlayStation games, as well as hundreds of copied films and TV programs. He was sentenced on Tuesday 10th of April to a 125 hour Community Service Order for contravening the Copyright Designs and Patents Act and the Trade Marks Act.
The man originates from Caledonia Road in Ayr and he has previous convictions for similar offenses. Hamilton was exposed after selling copied games to an undercover investigator in an Internet forum. Despite using his mother-in-law's sheltered housing address in Ayr for "returns" and an anonymous email account, Hamilton was unaware that his "buyer" was actually an ELSPA Internet investigator, just like in the movies.
But how were his illegal activities discovered? Hamilton's bad habits of using pirated software led to South Ayrshire's Trading Standards Service being tipped-off and ELSPA investigations into on-line accounts led Officers straight to his door for the second time in less than three years. Apparently, this is one of those that just don't learn. Then Trading Standards Officers and an ELSPA investigator assisted Strathclyde Police as they Searched Hamilton's premises and garden shed, which revealed tons of illegally copied stock, two PCs containing disc-burning software, dozens of blank DVDs and boxes of padded envelopes.
Come on! Even having writable DVDs is an offense? I have a hobby and it's making music using a sequencer. I want to keep my music on DVDs so my creation doesn't get lost? The tracks don't appear anywhere as I've just composed them last week (plus I'm not that good), so will I serve community hours for this?
This is what Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA said: "Our investigations will continue to monitor the markets and work closely with our Trading Standards partners in stamping out counterfeiting. The simple fact about piracy is that it is illegal and punishable by fines, Community Service and jail sentences. No matter which way you look at counterfeiting it is nothing more than theft. Counterfeiters are only out for one thing: money. And because of this consumers who buy counterfeit games have no recourse under law for faulty goods."
So be careful from now on, kids. It might be your premises they check next and you don't want them finding that you've modded your PSP to enhance the screen's brightness level, or to play Mario 64 on it, now do you? No really, be careful!