Six-month jail term sends warning to CD pirates
THE first Irish prison sentence for music piracy will send out a strong warning to anyone involved in illegal counterfeiting and CD selling, the industry's watchdog said yesterday.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) promised to "do everything in its power" to prosecute anyone involved in any form of unlawful music practice. This will include illegal downloading, file sharing, counterfeiting or illegally importing music.
The warning follows the jailing for six months of a 26-year-old Co Longford man last week after he was arrested with 226 counterfeit music CDs and a large quantity of DVDs.
Martin McDonagh of Foynes Court Longford pleaded guilty at Carrick on Shannon District Court last week on copyright charges. In addition to a six-month prison sentence, he was fined €1,000. IRMA director general Dick Doyle said this was the first jail term for music piracy. The Irish music market was worth €116m last year, but the industry claims that commercial pirating of CDs and DVDs was siphoning off between €11m and €15m a year.
Sean Murtagh, head of the IRMA's anti-piracy operation, said District Court judges were beginning to view music piracy as a more serious crime than previously. The High Court recently gave the IRMA the go-ahead for six internet service providers to provide the names of 23 people involved in illegal music file sharing and distribution of 100,000 files. The IRMA Intends prosecuting them.
Mr Murtagh said that their main targets were the so-called commercial pirates.
- Fergus Black
