The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has arrested and charged a 36-year-old Sydney man with copyright infringement following a major anti-piracy sting.
The man was bailed and will appear before the Central Local Court on May 13. Criminal penalties for copyright infringement in Australia are up to A$60,500 ($56,978) and five years imprisonment per offence for individuals, and up to A$302,500 ($284,893) for corporations.
The arrest followed two days of raids that involved executing eleven search warrants across Sydney. The AFP raided residential premises in the suburbs of Petersham and Canley Heights, an optical disc manufacturing plant and a number of music retailers, supermarkets and other retail outlets that were selling pirate compilations featuring artists such as Justin Timberlake, UB40 and Gnarls Barkley.
The AFP believes the alleged music piracy ring manufactured “tens of thousands” of units of remixed compilations called “Fresh Off The Boat”, according to the Sydney-based Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI). The tracks are given a reggae and R&B mix and targeted primarily to music fans of Pacific Islander descent in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific territories such as Fiji.
“It’s unusual to find cross-border Australian pirate rings that are exporting the pirated items to other countries,” MIPI GM Sabiene Heindl tells Billboard.biz. “Normally the pirated stock is imported.”
MIPI and the Auckland-based Record Industry Of New Zealand (RIANZ) have been working together on these raids, Heindl says. Enforcement action is underway in New Zealand against an importer of the allegedly pirated product and a CD manufacturing plant with warning letters being sent to retailers that are stocking the pirate product.
Mark McCall, director of anti-piracy of RIANZ, said in a statement, “We welcome the efforts of the Australian Federal Police to target music pirates, particularly those whose illegal activities are occurring across national borders.”
