According to court documents, Steven R. Hale, 37, of Memphis, worked for a multinational company that, among other things, manufactured and distributed DVDs and Blu-rays of movies. From approximately February 2021 to March 2022, Hale allegedly stole numerous “pre-release” DVDs and Blu-rays, that is, discs being prepared for commercial distribution in the United States and not available for sale to the public. These included DVDs and Blu-rays for such popular films as “F9: The Fast Saga,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “Godzilla v. Kong,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Dune,” and “Black Widow.” Hale allegedly sold the DVDs and Blu-rays through e-commerce sites. At least one pre-release Blu-ray that Hale allegedly stole and sold, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” was “ripped” — that is, extracted from the Blu-ray by bypassing the encryption that prevents unauthorized copying — and copied. That digital copy was then illegally made available over the internet more than a month before the Blu-ray’s official scheduled release date. Copies of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars.
If I remember correctly pre-release DVDs always have a watermark that is specific to that copy, so it’s easy to track back to who leaked it. Quite a risky move on his part (that is, if he was leaking the “for your consideration” ones).
I think these were final, retail versions that were being prepared for physical distribution ahead of release
That makes sense.
Hale allegedly sold the DVDs and Blu-rays through e-commerce sites
Why would anyone do this, surely there are better ways
Man gets arrested for public service
Copies of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner of tens of millions of dollars.
Actually lol’d
they could have at least put a link to the torrent in the press release
Good, the copyright owner can get fucked
You remember R9 screeners? I bet that person does.
o7
Reminds me of having a “for your consideration” (that would pop up every 15m or so at the bottom) Two Towers back in 2002 and then again the same thing with Return of the King. Both about 1-2 months before their release in theater. Never downloaded, always passed around and copied. Still wonder how those got around like that.
‘Justice’ system? More like Joke system.
[Sarcasm] Good to see actually unethical ‘crimes’ are being taken care of and not unimportant ones like s.a. or murders by cops.
such popular films as … “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,”
You what now?
an estimated loss
these people would be downloading cams not buying full price, over priced, blue rays.
Studios could release everything for free after a theatrical run in 1080p and still sell exactly the same amount of physical media.
it’s a collectors market now. I downloaded Dune and Dune part 2 and still went out and bought the steel books.
these people would be downloading cams not buying full price, over priced, blue rays.
At a month before, probably just a webrip/dl, and then they’d wait the month for the physical release.
Tbf releasing a disk-rip a month before its official release is kinda stupid. He really thought these companies wouldn’t start investigating if they got a security breach after their pre-release versions were online available. Just act a bit smarter, release them a week after the disk hit the shelves
My guess is he was doing it for the cred and the thrill. Any old joe shmoe can burn a disc copy after it’s already being sold to the public
That’s how they get you. Ego.
F to a rare theater quality rip releaser.
