MPAA Accused Of Tampering With Evidence In Key Copyright Case In Finland

A senior MPAA executive in Finland tampered with evidence in "an apparent attempt to hide the identity of one of their spies," reported Torrent Freak. Six men had been accused of running a piracy "topsite;" this was "Finland's largest ever Internet piracy case" and it "ended with four men being found guilty of copyright infringement and two being exonerated."

The tampered evidence came out when an expert investigator was on the stand, and showed some video of his investigation. However, the defense pointed out that the username in the video did not match up with the relevant entry in the logfile, at which point it was revealed that the MPAA exec had tampered with the evidence in an attempt to cover the tracks of the "user" who was a part of the investigation.

Defense attorney Herkko Hietanen said:

"The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) investigator handed over the evidence material to the MPAA senior executive who then changed the text file before the anti-piracy organization handed over the evidence to the Finnish police." Apparently, "no one from the MPAA informed the defense that the edits had been made and the tampering was revealed at the worst possible time – during the trial. This resulted in the prosecutor ordering a police investigation into the changes that had been made."

However, the four men who were found guilty escaped with suspended jail sentences. The six million euros ( $7,857,600) in damages claimed by the rightsholders was reduced to just 45,000 euros, which is equal to $58,932.

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