Disc pirate sent to prison for lifting unreleased DVDs

A Tennessee man received nearly five years in prison for committing tens of millions of dollars' worth of criminal copyright infringement. Steven Hale confessed to stealing and selling copies of unreleased Hollywood films for about a year starting in February 2021, according to a Thursday statement from the Department of Justice. Hale formerly worked at a DVD and Blu-ray disc manufacturing company where he stole physical copies of popular films manufactured and primed for commercial distribution, though not yet publicly available.

How did stealing DVDs cause that much financial impact? Hale used e-commerce sites to sell the illegal discs weeks before their scheduled in-store release dates. A pilfered copy of Spider-Man: No Way Home was digitized and shared online more than a month before the Blu-ray’s release date, resulting in an estimated loss of tens of millions of dollars for the rightful copyright owner. Hale also stole copies of F9: The Fast Saga, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Godzilla v. Kong, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Dune, and Black Widow.

The 38-year-old pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement charges in May, along with charges for felony possession of a firearm. The DOJ noted that Hale had previous felony convictions of armed robbery and attempted robbery. He received 57 months in prison for all charges and agreed to return over 1,000 stolen DVDs and Blu-ray discs as part of the agreed restitution. 

Dig deeper: Read my previous report for more background on Hale’s case.