NewCardDude
06-26-2004, 01:41 PM
Joseph Yano, a Saskatoon member of an Internet piracy group called the "Rogue Warriorz," pleaded guilty to three charges and received fines totalling $10,500 Wednesday in provincial court.
Sixteen individual charges were collapsed into three: distributing infringed copies of software and movies, possessing a pressing plate to make infringed copies of software and movies, and conspiring with others to breach copyright.
"It was expressly agreed by the Crown that (bootlegging) is not what Mr. Yano was involved in," said Yano's lawyer, Scott Hopley.
"There was no indication of a for-profit motive by Mr. Yano. It was simply a group of people exchanging files (over the Internet)."
Computer giant Microsoft filed a report with the court to show loss of value as a result of Yano's actions, said Hopley.
Yano distributed the program Microsoft Office XP and had a plate to create copies of Microsoft Office XP Corporate Edition.
Most of the programs the 36-year-old Yano admitted to trading were games like Gunman Chronicles and Fallout Tactics, and movies like Finding Forrester.
"Rogue Warriorz" included 21 members from various states who have been similarly charged in the United States. Charges were laid after U.S. federal agents uncovered their actions in June 2002.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2004
Sixteen individual charges were collapsed into three: distributing infringed copies of software and movies, possessing a pressing plate to make infringed copies of software and movies, and conspiring with others to breach copyright.
"It was expressly agreed by the Crown that (bootlegging) is not what Mr. Yano was involved in," said Yano's lawyer, Scott Hopley.
"There was no indication of a for-profit motive by Mr. Yano. It was simply a group of people exchanging files (over the Internet)."
Computer giant Microsoft filed a report with the court to show loss of value as a result of Yano's actions, said Hopley.
Yano distributed the program Microsoft Office XP and had a plate to create copies of Microsoft Office XP Corporate Edition.
Most of the programs the 36-year-old Yano admitted to trading were games like Gunman Chronicles and Fallout Tactics, and movies like Finding Forrester.
"Rogue Warriorz" included 21 members from various states who have been similarly charged in the United States. Charges were laid after U.S. federal agents uncovered their actions in June 2002.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2004