Montrealer Geremi Adam (Maven) Faces 4 Months for Pirating Movies

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Movie Pirate Has A Warrant For Arrest

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sourced by Jacob Zinn

Canada’s biggest movie pirate, according to the FBI, will be sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to 2 counts of distributing high-quality pirated films under the Copyright Act.

Geremi Adam, 27, of Montreal could be jailed for up to 4 months for selling illegal copies of Invincible and How to Eat Fried Worms over the Internet in August and September 2006 under the codename “Maven.”

It’s unknown how many copies of films he sold or if he recorded any more in theatres. The quality of his uploaded movies caught the attention of the FBI and the RCMP, who launched an investigation and named Montreal the film-pirating capital of the world.

Adam would be the first Canadian serving time for breaking the country’s revised cinematic copyright laws if he is given a prison term. In 2007, the Conservative government passed Bill C-59, which made it a criminal offense to illegally record films. Movie pirating is punishable by six months in jail and a $25,000 fine.

In September 2006, Adam was arrested outside of a movie theatre, but at the time of his recordings, it was only illegal to distribute pirated films, not to record films in theatres.

Sentencing & Fines for Film Pirating

A warrant for his arrest was issued when he failed to show up to his January 30, 2008 court date. He is currently being held in detention after a January arrest in connection to an attempted car theft.

Before the legislation was introduced, Hollywood film studios such as Warner Bros. threatened to pull their films from Canadian theatres if the country didn’t get tough on film pirates.

Crown prosecutor Josée Bélanger recommended a 4-month sentence. Adam’s defence lawyer, Richard Brouillard, argued his client suffers from depression and had a troubled childhood and has asked for community service.