Smith was charged this week with one count of fraud, one count of dealing with property that is suspected to be the proceeds of crime and one count of selling infringing copies of works.
“Mary Smith was the largest seller of pirated ABS-CBN/Star Cinema movies on eBay,” ABS-CBN assistant vice president of Global Anti-Piracy Elisha Lawrence.
“Piracy is a significant issue for ABS-CBN/Star Cinema because we want our customers to have the optimal experience viewing our content, which is not the case with these bootleg pirate copies. We are thankful for the support of the Australian police and look forward to the criminal process taking its course against this pirate,” Lawrence added.
The police search and seizure conducted at Smith’s home shows the significant international headway made by the anti-piracy efforts of broadcasting company.
Recently, ABS-CBN also received a US$10 million judgment from the U.S. Federal District Court in Oregon against Jeffrey Ashby for damages from his infringing the copyrights and well-known trademarks by rebroadcasting ABS-CBN’s popular TV shows and movies on his pirate websites.
Among the many pirate sites that Ashby owned were watchfilipinotv.com, watchfilipinomovies.com and pinoytalaga.com.
“We are protecting both our content and the consumers, especially online where they are exposed to unnecessary risk of malware infections,” ABS-CBN Global COO Raffy Lopez said. “But at the heart of this is for people to understand that piracy is not a victimless crime. We work hard to ensure that they appreciate the value and benefits of entertainment content and respect for copyright.”
ABS-CBN has recently partnered with Crime Stoppers USA. Call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or text TIPLA plus your tip to 274637 if you have any information on a pirate website, and you could be eligible for a reward if your information leads to the conviction of the pirates involved.