Hong Kong - A Hong Kong man thought to be the first ever convicted of copyright infringement of movies on the BitTorrent file-sharing network has lost his appeal, Reuters reported.

Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal ruled that Chan Nai-ming -- aka "Big Crook" on BitTorrent -- "plainly succeeded in distributing copies" of three movies on BitTorrent, and dismissed his appeal.

A Hong Kong Customs investigation found that Chan had offered the films "Daredevil," "Miss Congeniality" and "Red Planet" from his computer, and also placed a notice on an Internet forum inviting other users to download them.

Chan now faces three months in prison.

"This judgment has confirmed that it commits a crime and violates copyright laws for the act of using (BitTorrent) software to upload and distribute," said customs official Tam Yiu-keung in a written statement.

The Hong Kong government said that BitTorrent uploads originating from the territory dropped 80% in the year following Chan's arrest in 2005.

Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/2qmfr6 (Reuters)

http://www.bittorrent.com