FBI hunts down "24" pirate

By Andrew Wallenstein

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A television show that dramatizes federal investigations is now finding itself at the center of a real-life FBI probe into copyright infringement.

The FBI filed a criminal complaint Friday against a Chicago man for allegedly uploading four episodes of the hit series "24" to LiveDigital.com, a video hosting site, before their primetime broadcast. If convicted on a felony count, Jorge Romero, 24, could face up to three years in prison.

The action represents a renewed aggressiveness to crack down on Internet bootleggers, particularly in the television industry, which has not been as vocal about anti-piracy activities as the music and movie businesses.

Romero is not suspected of stealing the "24" episodes from Fox; that individual is still at large, and neither Fox nor federal investigators has given up on trying to find the culprit.

20th Century Fox, which produces "24," issued a statement supporting the FBI investigation.

"We are grateful to the FBI and U.S. Attorney's offices in Los Angeles for aggressively pursuing this matter, and we hope it will serve as a powerful warning that uploading copyrighted TV shows and movies to the Internet can be a crime with significant penalties and will be prosecuted as such."

"The FBI makes this a different ball game," said Jay Cooper, an attorney at Greenberg Traurig who specializes in intellectual property issues. "The public doesn't seem to get that it's wrong, and maybe a message like this has to get out there so people realize there are criminal penalties."

The episodes in question were the first four episodes of the sixth season of "24," which aired over two consecutive days on Fox beginning January 14. To give the season an additional marketing push, Fox also made the four episodes available via early DVD release on January 16.