First bit torrent Conviction

A Hong Kong man has been convicted for illegally distributing movies over the internet using BitTorrent technology, in what is believed to be the world's first criminal piracy case involving such software.

Chan Nai-ming, 38, was found guilty of copyright infringement for uploading three Hollywood movies to a website without authorisation by using a popular peer-to-peer file-sharing program, a judiciary spokeswoman said.

The Hong Kong customs and excise department said the unemployed Chan was arrested in January.

Chan was released on bail of 5000 Hong Kong dollars ($A855) and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for November 7.

Woody Tsung, chief executive of Hong Kong's Motion Picture Industry Association, welcomed the verdict, saying he thought it would keep internet users in the territory from sharing copyrighted files without license.

The customs department said that since Chan's arrest, file-sharing activities that violated copyright laws had dropped by 80 per cent.

[ SMH ]