Hockey Web Site Owner Indicted on Copyright Charges
Sites sold DVDs and video clips of copyrighted hockey broadcasts
11/16/2011 | By James R. Hood
|
ConsumerAffairs.com
| Internet
You know those boring copyright notices at the beginning of sports broadcasts, movies and so forth? All that boilerplate text about the FBI investigating unauthorized reproduction, sale, etc.?
Guess what? They're true.
A Pennsylvania man who operates a couple of Web sites about pro hockey -- HDHockey.tv and BroadStreetBully.com -- has been indicted on charges of copyright infringement.
The seven-count indictment alleges that Michael Moore, 44, of Chadds Ford, Penn., infringed the copyright protected works during seven six-month periods between May 2006 and June 2010.
The maximum penalty for each count of copyright infringement is five years in prison. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of all the revenue received from the alleged violations.
The indictment alleges that HDHockey.tv offered for sale DVDs containing recordings of copyrighted television broadcasts of hockey games and other copyrighted works such as team and player profiles, from the National Hockey League (NHL) and other professional hockey leagues.
It also alleges that BroadStreetBully.com was a website offering for sale monthly subscriptions that enabled subscribers to download an unlimited number of video clips of copyrighted television broadcasts of hockey games, and other copyrighted works such as team and player profiles, from the NHL and other professional hockey leagues.
The indictment alleges that neither site had the permission of the NHL or any other professional hockey league to reproduce or distribute these recordings.
