By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Film pirating is serious business in California.
The latest turn in the never-ending problem came Wednesday morning when FBI agents arrested a New York man for unlawfully distributing a pirated copy of the movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” before it was officially released in theaters.
The FBI said it arrested Gilberto Sanchez, 47, at his home in the Bronx without incident. A federal grand jury in Los Angeles had indicted him on Dec. 10.
Authorities allege that Sanchez had uploaded the copyrighted “X-Men Origins: Wolverine to www.Megaupload.com last spring.
“The film was uploaded prior to its theatrical release,” said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller in Los Angeles. ” The investigation into the initial compromise of the film is continuing. Additional arrests have not been ruled out.”
Uploading a copyrighted work to the Internet carries a statutory maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine or twice the gross gain or gross loss attributable to the offense, whichever is greater, authorities said.
