Entertainment Legal News

Couple Plead Guilty To Conspiracyand Criminal Copyright Violations

United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott, Sacramento County Sheriff John McGuinness, and Special Agent-in-Charge Jean Mitchell, United States Secret Service, announced today that JESUS HUERTA, 49, of Stockton, California, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Copyright Infringement and Criminal Copyright Infringement. ROSA ISELA HUERTA, 40, also of Stockton, pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Copyright Infringement. The charges stem from the defendants participation in the large-scale, illegal distribution of copyrighted movies DVDs and music CDs from locations in Stockton and San Jose.

This case is the product of an extensive/joint investigation by the Sacramento Valley High Tech Crimes Task Force, which is comprised of more than thirty federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the United States Secret Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Motion Picture Association of America ("MPAA"), and the Recording Industry Association of America ("RIAA") also assisted with the case.

The prosecutions of JESUS HUERTA and ROSA HUERTA were coordinated with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California and the Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Task Force (“REACT”), which prosecuted multiple defendants involved in replicating copyrighted moves and music in the San Francisco Bay Area and distributing them throughout California.

According to Assistant United States Attorney Robin R. Taylor, who is prosecuting the case, the defendants admitted in court that from approximately September 2005, through on or about October 5, 2005, they unlawfully distributed counterfeit movies and music from a storefront located in Stockton, California where more than 50,000 counterfeit units were seized by law enforcement. The defendants also admitted to distributing counterfeit movies and music from a second location in San Jose, California.

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	Did You Know?
	The title of Option is a defined factor When a creative entity, such as producer, artist, or studio, discovers a property and evaluates the rights status, they will, in most cases, attempt to negotiate an 'option' for the rights. An option is the right to acquire ownership of an intellectual property for a pre-determined amount of time. Size of the option payment often determines length of the agreement as well as how many forms of the rights will be included in the deal. While most option payments are subject to negotiation, script deals often work out to an even percentage of the purchase price.