Man Jailed for Two Years and Fined $25,000 for Bootlegging “Dark Knight”
In one of the most notable intellectual property cases, Robert L Henderson was fined $25,000 in restitutions and was sentenced to two years of jail without parole by a federal court in Kansas City. Henderson pleaded guilty to bootlegging (i.e. distributing unauthorized copies) of the 2008 blockbuster “Dark Knight.” According to the Kansas City Star, Henderson entered a theater with a video camera concealed in his winter coat and taped “The Dark Knight” during its opening week in July 2008. Over 1,200 counterfeit DVDs created by Henderson were recovered, after the Motion Picture Association of America launched an investigation. Henderson was accused of copyright infringement.
MTV.com later reported that Mike Robinson, a spokesperson for the Motion Picture Association of America, stated that stealing films via a camcorder (“camming”) was a “serious threat” to the motion picture industry. The motion picture industry employs 2.4 million Americans. Robinson added that the sentence was “appropriate” for a “very serious crime.” Robinson also said that he hoped that the incident would “serve as a warning to would-be movie thieves.”
Two months earlier, Gilberto Sanchez was also accused of making illegal copies of the movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” available on the Internet. Sanchez reportedly purchased a bootleg copy of the film from a street peddler and uploaded it to an online file-sharing site. The version of the film was a “work print” (an unfinished copy) of the film. FBI agents eventually tracked Sanchez down and arrested him. Sanchez later told The New York Times that he was being made a “scapegoat” and that he would be “crucified” for his crime.
These recent crackdowns are indicative of a growing concern over enforcement of intellectual property rights in the digital age as well as a strong stance by the industry and the federal government.
Michael Monheit is the managing lawyer at Monheit Law, outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has practiced law since 1989. Michael Monheit was the managing attorney of the law offices of Herbert Monheit — now Silverman and Fodera — a firm... Michael Monheit→