Hong Kong man convicted for movie sharing

A Hong Kong man has been found guilty of copyright infringement for his use of BitTorrent.

Chan Nai-ming was found guilty of infringing copyright after he made three films available. Hong Kong police claim he is the first person charged with copyright offences as a result of using BitTorrent. BitTorrent enables large files to be distributed by breaking them up into smaller files and using peer-to-peer delivery. It holds no central database of files.

The 38-year old man put Daredevil, Red Planet and Miss Congeniality onto the network, according to the BBC.

Nai-ming was freed on bail of HK$5,000 (£362) and must return to court for sentencing 7 November. The maximum sentence under Hong Kong law is four years in prison and a fine.

Hong Kong Customs was quoted by AFX and BBC saying that illegal file-sharing had fallen 80 per cent since the arrest which suggests a chronic lack of illegal material in the administrative region.®