Debra Wong Yang
United States Attorney
Central District of California
United States Courthouse
312 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, California 90012
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June 30, 2006
Thom Mrozek (213) 894-6947
Los Angeles, CA - A Burbank resident who illegally copied and sold sound effects libraries was charged today with felony criminal copyright infringement. The defendant, Kevin Patrick Baker, 35, has agreed to plead guilty to the federal charge.
According to court documents filed today, Baker illegally copied the sound effects libraries of Sound Ideas, the world's largest publisher of sound effects for the commercial broadcast, post-production and motion picture industries. Sound Ideas also publishes sound effects for use in multimedia, game and Web design. Sound Ideas is the exclusive worldwide distributor for a number of custom-created feature film studio sound effects libraries, including 20th-Century Fox, Lucasfilm, Universal Studios and Turner Entertainment.
Baker sold his copies of Sound Ideas's copyrighted works by e-mail and on websites such as Craig's list. Sound Ideas sold these products for prices ranging from $199 to $1,495 per copy. In his plea agreement with the government, Baker admits selling the sound effects in 2005. According to other court documents, in 2002, Baker was offering Sound Ideas products for sale and he was warned by the company to stop.
Baker has agreed to appear in federal court on July 13. The copyright infringement charge carries a maximum statutory penalty of five years in federal prison.
This case was investigated by the Los Angeles Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Release No. 06-091
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