X-Men Origins: Wolverine Pirate Sent to Federal Prison for Year

Gilberto Sanchez Hugh Jackman X-Men Origins: Wolverine

9:15 pm, December 19th, 2011

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A man who admitted to uploading a pirated, unfinished copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine to the Internet in 2009 was sentenced to one year in federal prison on Monday.

Gilberto Sanchez of New York also received one year of supervised release and various restrictions on computer use.

Judge Margaret Morrow called his actions “extremely serious.”

In March 2009, a month ahead of its theatrical release, Sanchez posted the so-called “workprint” of Wolverine to MegaUpload, the controversial file-sharing site.

Although 20th Century Fox, the studio behind the movie, was able to take down Sanchez’s pirated copy within approximately one day, “by then, the damage was done and the film had proliferated like wildfire throughout the Internet, resulting in up to millions of infringements,” said prosecutors.

Last March, Sanchez pleaded guilty to one count of uploading a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution.

Now, he’s going behind bars.

“The federal prison sentence handed down in this case sends a strong message of deterrence to would-be Internet pirates,” said U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte, Jr. “The Justice Department will pursue and prosecute persons who seek to steal the intellectual property of this nation.”

What do you think of the sentence?

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