Appeals court affirms prison sentence for man convicted of movie file sharing

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- An appeals court on Thursday affirmed a jail sentence for a man charged with posting unlicensed movie files on the Internet for profit.

The Seoul Central District Court upheld a lower court's ruling which sentenced
Nam Jae-woo to 10 months in prison and a fine worth 5 million won (US$4,360) for
violating copyright laws.
The case represented the first court battle in Korea against online copyright
infringements in the movie industry.
Nam was indicted earlier this year as part of the prosecution's crackdown on
rampant online file-sharing services used by millions of Koreans and believed to
have driven the country's music and movie industry into a downward spiral.
"Mr. Nam uploaded movie files for profit, knowing that such illegal posting
infringes on copyright," Judge Lee Sang-ju of Seoul High Court said in the
verdict. "The habitual crime should be sternly punished."
Over the past two years Nam posted 58 movies on file-sharing sites, taking 93
million won in proceeds, the court found. He used his mother's name to create 17
IDs to avoid exposure, it said.