A prison sentence for a Guns N’ Roses-illegal uploader is being sought by prosecutors to highlight how serious the government is about punishing those who upload pre-release material.
Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are pursuing a 6-month prison term for Los Angeles man, Kevin Cogill, who pleaded guilty in December to one misdemeanor count of uploading pre-release Guns
N’ Roses tracks, according to court documents.
Cogill was arrested last summer at gunpoint and charged with uploading nine tracks of the Chinese Democracy album to his music site. The album, which cost millions and took 17 years to complete, was released November 23rd, 2008.
“Making a pre-release work available to the worldwide public over the internet where it can be copied without limit is arguably one of the more insidious forms of copyright infringement,” prosecutor Craig H. Missakian wrote in court documents. “That is because
once released it is virtually impossible to prevent unlimited dissemination of the work.
“Needless to say, artists like the band Guns N’ Roses put their blood, sweat, toil and tears into the creative process and this country has seen fit to protect their rights — and in doing so foster and encourage the creative process by which all of society benefits.”
It is estimated that after Cogill uploaded the material, as many as 1,310 websites disseminated the music afterwards.
Hottest Comments