The Customs & Excise Department has welcomed the rejection of a movie pirate's court appeal, saying it clarifies that Internet piracy is a serious offence.

The Court of Final Appeal dismissed the case of a man appealing after being convicted and sentenced to three months' jail for uploading infringing movies to the Internet via the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing programme.

Assistant Commissioner of Customs & Excise Tam Yiu-keung said the judgment confirmed that uploading infringing copies of copyright works to the Internet for downloading by others is a crime.

"The ruling will generate a strong deterrent effect on Internet piracy activities," Mr Tam said.

The court ruled that the appellant, by using the file-sharing programme, distributed infringing copies, and was correctly convicted under the Copyright Ordinance.

Suspected online piracy activities should be reported to the department on 2545 6182.