Upper Marlboro Man Pleads Guilty to Copyright Infringement

Clarence Matthews, 42, of Upper Marlboro, pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to criminal copyright infringement.

In August 2006, Matthews began advertising television shows and movies for sale on a website. On Feb. 8, 2007, an undercover FBI agent e-mailed Matthews requesting to purchase two television series, “OZ” and “Da Ali G Show.” The undercover agent sent payment to a post office box as instructed by Matthews.

On Feb. 26, 2007, the undercover agent received the DVDs that he ordered from Matthews. The DVDs were fraudulent copies of the copyrighted television shows.

On Feb. 1, 2011, the undercover agent again e-mailed Matthews and asked what movies he had for sale. Matthews provided a list of over 1,100 movie titles, several of which were movies that were only playing in theaters at the time. The undercover agent ordered five copies each of 10 different movie titles, all of which were only playing in theaters and were not available for commercial purchase on DVD at that time. The agent sent payment to the same post office box as before.

On March 8, 2011, Matthews sent the agent 57 copies of copyrighted DVDs — the titles ordered by the agent and seven copies of an additional title that Matthews provided for free. The movies appeared to have been taped with a video camera inside of a theater, while others contained sub-text stating that the particular release was for award nomination purpose only.

On March 28, 2011, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Matthew’s residence and seized 44,705 counterfeit DVDs and 19 DVD burner towers.

Between August 2006 and March 2011, Matthews collected more than $632,971 from the sale of copyrighted DVDs. The total retail value of all of the copyrighted DVDs that Matthews sold was between $1 million and $2.5 million.

Matthews faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams, Jr. scheduled his sentencing for 9:30 a.m., Oct. 19.