The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California announced that Jason Everett Spatafore, a/k/a Dis-man, 25, of Phoenix, Arizona, was charged today by information on four counts of criminal copyright infringement (Internet film piracy) in violation of 17 U.S.C. §§ 506(a)(1) and (a)(2) and 18 U.S.C. §§ 2319(b)(3) and (c)(3).

 According to the information, Mr. Spatafore is alleged to have committed criminal copyright infringement (Internet film piracy) in that he willfully infringed a copyright by reproducing and distributing by electronic means copies of parts of the film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  It is also alleged in counts one through three of the information that Mr. Spatafore willfully infringed the copyright for purposes of private financial gain.

 The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of the statutes referred to above is one year imprisonment and a fine of $100,000.  However, any sentence following conviction would be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and would be imposed in the discretion of the Court.  An information simply contains allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Spatafore must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

 Mr. Spatafore is scheduled to appear on October 10, 2000, at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero in San Francisco for initial appearance on the information.

 This prosecution is the result of an investigation by agents of the FBI, along with the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.   Ross W. Nadel is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case.

 All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415) 436-7181.