the chosen one

my mate was caught buying fake dvd's off a street trader and now he's been summoned to court. does anyone know what he's likely to get if he pleasds guilty?

thanks for advice.

V45DSM

**** all - I can't even believe they are taking him to court. Are you sure he's hasn't just been Summonsed as a witness? If the fake DVDs are available to buy in the shops go and buy them and say the copys were bought as back-ups because you're sick of your kids/nephews/whoever scratching the originals.

rr_ww

Hes probably going to get a slap on the wrist. Presumably the trader was arrested too? If not then theres no case.

He could maybe argue he didnt know they were fake? Depends on what the titles were.


On a slightly different note. If HMV werent forced into selling DVDs for around £18-20 then maybe more people would buy legal ones. Especially now its getting harder to buy on VHS when they were only circa £13.And the trade for pirate ones only happens because the DVDs are availiable 6 months before the UK in the US. Which creates a demand.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

They will ask him if he can get any 'Bluey's', and then slip him 20 quid.

skiddus_markus

Pretty sure it's not an offence to buy them.Only to sell/produce them.

Corgi

It's not an offence to download them either, uploading well thats a different matter.

Reffro

It is an offence to download films/music, because you are creating a copy....

sti555

6points, £350 fine & 8 week ban

oh and 50hours community service

Corgi

Your not, the uploader did that for you.

Subscribe to a good newserver and download all day long and you will never get prosecuted, try to upload anything and you will get a warning letter the next day.

the chosen one

the friend in question doesn't speak english very well and genuinely didn't realise they were fake. he had the police search his flat and evrything. should he plea guilty to get it over and done with or plead not guilty and go through a long court case>?

fatherpierre

A no-brainer.

All he has to say is he thought they were genuine and the trader was legal.

boxst

Hello

Are you really sure about the facts? There is no way that the Police have rights to search a flat simply because your friend was buying a fake DVD on the street. Unless he was doing a deal to distribute and even then there would be no proof.

No drugs? They didn't find a weapon on him?

Steve.

Dracoro

I wouldn't bother claiming that you bought them for 'back-ups' because the originals keep getting damaged as they'll demand to see the originals.

Just state the facts and that he genuinely thought they were OK and it's a matter of whether the courts believe him or not.

the chosen one

he was definitely NOT distributing them. no drugs, no weapon. in fact in the flat they didn't find anything at all.

V45DSM

Sounds like they're using your mate as a grass by proxy. If he pleads guilty to buying counterfeit DVDs then the case against the seller is stronger.

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Uh oh. Buying copied DVD/VHS/games etc, according to Mr Blunkett this is funding terrorism.

Could be held indefinately without trial!

Jamo

iTrader: (23)

he will be charged with recieving stolen property, the cinemas can sue for the the infringement of their intelectual copyrights. he wont get done at all, slap on the wrists.

jamo

skiddus_markus

Wouldn't that be a case for the civil courts though,not the criminal ones?
Sounds to me like they think he's involved in selling them.

Danbo

You wouldnt have your house searched purely for buying a dodgy DVD...........

There must be more to it.

NotoriousREV

Did they obtain a search warrant just because someone bought a dodgy DVD?

MJW

All he needs to say is that he believed the discs were genuine and bona fide (ie. not copies, bought in good faith). There's no way that the courts can prove that he didn't.

pbee

what was the "content" on these dvd's cant belive he would have his house searched for buying some dvd copies of normal films. The films taken from him yes, but house searced !!. they most of thought he was distributing them or making further copies.

all you can do is be truthful, if he bought the dvd's as he thought they were genuine articles, depends what the circumstances are i suppose, ie if it was blatantly obvious they were copies or he had a sign out or something :-)

Mungo

The police/courts aren't totally stupid - pleading that you thought they were genuine is about as likely to succeed as pleading against a speeding offence that you didn't realise you were going so fast.