A UK man taken to Court for illegally distributing music on the internet on “an industrial scale” has pleaded guilty to copyright infringement, according to reports.
Mr Wayne Evans, Liverpool, found himself facing legal action after the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) arrested him in early September during an investigation which saw laptop computers and mobile phones seized from his home by collecting society, PRS for Music.
On 7 October, a Court heard that Mr Evans had “ignored the necessary licensing and permissions from copyright owners” while distributing thousands of UK Top 40 singles on his website, deejayportal.com.
The 38-year-old was accused of “specialising” in uploading copyrighted content onto torrent file sharing websites on a “weekly basis,” according to reports.
Mr Evans was charged with two counts of distributing an article which infringed copyright and possessing or controlling an article for use in fraud.
The Liverpool-based man pleaded guilty to all charges.
Commenting on the case, Steve Kettle, detective constable of PIPCU, said: “In illegally distributing music on an industrial scale, Mr Evans caused significant losses to the music industry.”
“This result highlights the issue of digital piracy and its profound effect on the industry”.