Tokyo - Japan has made its first arrest of an individual who uploaded a movie to a file-sharing network before its official release, and Kazushi Hirata now faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $96,000 for sharing the movie "Wanted" on Japan's Winny file-sharing network, according to reports.

"Wanted" was released in U.S. theaters earlier this month, but is not set to debut in Japan until this weekend.

The 33-year-old Hirata downloaded a pirated copy from a peer-to-peer network, added his own homemade Japanese-language subtitles, and then uploaded the film to Winny.

According to Variety, Hirata is also believed to have added subtitles to and distributed other pirated films.

The creator of the Winny file-sharing network was found guilty of abetting copyright infringement in 2006 and ordered to pay a $14,400 fine.

Related Links:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992496.html

http://snipurl.com/3ryw3 (TorrentFreak)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winny