The video now has just over 115,000 views on YouTube, short of the 200,000 target. He originally got a three-year suspended sentence and was asked to hand over his PC, hard drives and DVD backups. Microsoft alone claimed losses of 5.7m Czech Crowns (about £148,000/$223,000).
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BSA acknowledged that Jakub could not pay them back for the piracy damage, but they were willing to cut a deal out of court that would protect Jakub from being sued at all.
The man, only known as Jakub F, agreed to produce and star in a video denouncing piracy to avoid paying a huge fine. As it stands, the video has already been viewed over 400,000 times within the span of a week, thus fulfilling the prosecution’s demands and exonerating Jakub from any financial culpability. This might be the very definition of “dodged a bullet”.
While he thought his actions would go undetected, the watchful eyes of the BSA (Business Software Alliance) eventually landed on his actions, and after a legal complaint was filed in his country, police arrested Jakub for piracy-related crimes.
“I thought I was not doing anything wrong”, he’s quoted as saying on the website in Czech. “I was convinced that I was too small a fish”.
Jakub’s pirate activities, which reportedly include putting Microsoft Windows 7 and 8 on filesharing portals, are believed to have cost companies like HBO Europe and Sony music several hundreds of thousands of dollars. “I did not even do it for the money, I did it for fun”, explained the website.
BSA confirmed that Jakub will only pay “a small portion” of the damages to rightsholders if he reaches 200k views with his YouTube video.
The film, in which Jakub plays himself, has so far been watched more than 135,000 times.
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“In respect of the damages, an out-of-court agreement was reached between Jakub F and the rights holders, under which Jakub F will pay partial compensation for the damages on condition that he collaborates on a public education campaign about the risks of Internet Piracy”.
