REDWOOD SHORES, CA, October 30, 2014 – Police in Victoria, Australia executed a search warrant at the home of Mary Smith in the suburb of Barooga, New South Wales in Australia and seized numerous pirate ABS-CBN DVDs, DVD burners and found hundreds of pirated ABS-CBN movies on computer hard drives located in her home.
Mary Smith was charged this week with one count of fraud, one count of dealing with property that is suspected to be the proceeds of crime and one count of selling infringing copies of works.
“Mary Smith was the largest seller of pirated ABS-CBN/Star Cinema movies on eBay. Piracy is a significant issue for ABS-CBN/Star Cinema because we want our customers to have the optimal experience viewing our content which is not the case with these bootleg pirate copies. We are thankful for the support of the Australian police and look forward to the criminal process taking its course against this pirate,” said ABS-CBN Assistant Vice President of Global Anti-Piracy Elisha Lawrence.
The police search and seizure conducted at the home of Smith in Australia shows the significant international headway made by the anti-piracy efforts of ABS-CBN Global. Recently, ABS-CBN also received a US$10 million judgment from the U.S. Federal District Court in Oregon against Jeffrey Ashby for damages from his infringing the copyrights and well-known trademarks of ABS-CBN by rebroadcasting ABS-CBN’s popular TV shows and movies on his pirate websites. Among the many pirate sites that Ashby owned were watchfilipinotv.com, watchfilipinomovies.com and pinoytalaga.com.
“Whether they’re illegal DVDs or online pirate sites, ABS-CBN is pursuing a relentless anti-piracy campaign worldwide,” said ABS-CBN Global COO Raffy Lopez.
“We are protecting both our content and the consumers, especially online where they are exposed to unnecessary risk of malware infections. But at the heart of this is for people to understand that piracy is not a victimless crime. We work hard to ensure that they appreciate the value and benefits of entertainment content and respect for copyright.”
ABS-CBN has recently partnered with Crime Stoppers USA. Please call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or text TIPLA plus your tip to 274637 if you have any information on a pirate website, and you could be eligible for a reward if your information leads to the conviction of the pirates involved.
