Secretary for Commerce, Industry & Technology John Tsang has warned the public not to infringe on copyrights, following the first conviction of a peer-to-peer infringer today.

Chan Nai-ming, 38, was arrested January 12 for illegal distribution of three movies on the Internet through BitTorrent. He was found guilty of three counts of copyright infringement at Tuen Mun Magistracy.

Magistrate Colin Mackintosh said Chan's act "was not a distribution of an infringing copy amongst a few friends. It was a distribution in a public open forum where anyone with the appropriate equipment could obtain an infringing copy from the defendant. It is inevitable that distribution to 30 or 40 or more downloaders would involve prejudice to the copyright owners through unauthorised distribution of their intellectual property and lost sales. And though lost sales, in the context of the evidence in this case, might be small, nevertheless, such losses would amount to a prejudicial effect". He adjourned sentencing to November 7.

Mr Tsang welcomed the verdict, adding the posting of copyright materials on BitTorrent in Hong Kong has dropped 80% since Chan's arrest. He said the verdict will deter infringers, and called on the public, particularly young people, to respect intellectual property.