Following a BPI Content Protection investigation, a West Midlands music pirate has been sentenced to 200 hours community service and fined more than £2,000 for manufacturing fake CDs in his living room and selling them on Facebook.
BPI Content Protection team, working with the West Midlands Police and Wolverhampton Trading Standards, carried out test purchases of CDs from the home of pirate Paul Evans in Bilston, West Midlands. Evans used Facebook to advertise CDs which BPI examined and confirmed were all counterfeits. As well as advertising specific CDs, Evans bragged that “If you can’t see what you want, just ask”.
In December 2016, a search warrant was executed at Evans’ home and BPI found over 50,000 music files on his living room computer, along with stacks of counterfeit CDs that he had manufactured – ranging from Now That’s What I Call Music and Ministry of Sound compilations to the latest releases by Beyoncé and Craig David – together with lists of customer orders obtained via Facebook.
On 11 January 2018, Evans attended Wolverhampton Magistrates Court and pleaded guilty to 14 intellectual property offences. Evans accepted that, although he only operated out of his living room, he was acting in the course of business and defrauded intellectual property owners. Evans was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and fined more than £2,000.
BPI Content Protection
The BPI Content Protection team is constantly fighting to reduce music piracy for record labels and performers – be it (1) online piracy (2) physical piracy or (3) internet-enabled physical piracy like this Facebook case. Social media and online marketplaces are increasingly popular platforms for internet enabled physical piracy. As this case shows, BPI is committed to reducing piracy in all shape and sizes, be it cottage industry pirates operating out of their living rooms, or more sophisticated criminal gangs operating at scale – all piracy damages the legal market for music in the UK.
If you wish to report music piracy, or would like to know more about how BPI Content Protection can help protect your content, please email us at [email protected] or call Kiaron Whitehead on 020 7803 1300.
