Jury Clears Man of Piracy Charges

A federal jury in Los Angeles on Friday acquitted a former Fox Cable Networks consultant of copyright infringement charges that alleged he illegally made movies and software available for downloading from the company’s computer network.

Kevin Sarna, 36, was the defendant in the first piracy-related case taken to trial by federal prosecutors in California. He could have faced as many as three years in prison.

Five former codefendants who previously pleaded guilty to misdemeanors each face up to one year behind bars.

“We accept the jury’s verdict,” said Arif Ali Khan, chief of the cyber and intellectual property crimes section for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. He added that authorities would continue to aggressively prosecute piracy cases.

Ira Salzman, a lawyer representing Sarna, hailed the decision. “These computers and e-mails leave a very long trail, but it is very murky and anonymous,” he said. “We believe justice was done.”

U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Fees in Los Angeles addressed Sarna, saying, “You dodged a bullet today.”

Fox Cable hired Sarna for computer help, including setting up a server for one of its partners, the National Geographic Channel. While Sarna was a consultant in 2002, a separate server for pirated movies, games and software -- also known as “warez” -- was established, authorities alleged.

Investigators at Fox started combing the computer network in November 2003 to find who had disclosed 1,800 employees’ salaries via internal e-mail. In doing so, they stumbled over the warez server, where they found movies, including “Daredevil” and “X2: X-Men United.”

Federal prosecutors filed conspiracy charges in May against Sarna and five former Fox Cable employees. Sarna was accused of copying and distributing a forensic software program worth $2,500 and 13 movies that had yet to be released on DVD or videotape.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Elena Duarte argued during the trial that computer logs showed that the movies and software had been copied onto the warez server by someone identified as “bluNt!” E-mails and testimony by three former codefendants made it clear that “bluNt!” was Sarna, and that Sarna controlled access to the server, Duarte said.

Sarna denied the allegations, saying he stopped using the server before the movies appeared. Although he had used the name “bluNt!,” Sarna said, he must not have been the only one doing so.