Four arrested in Spain for illegally distributing copyright films on the Net

A Civil Guard operation in Valencia and Zaragoza has arrested four people for illegally distributing copyrighted films and series on the Net without permission.

Their web pages offered some 1,500 films and series which were available, for either free download or through P2P file sharing, through a subnet which users had to be invited to join. In return, the users would contribute other audiovisual material.

The group would also replace original audio on foreign films with dubbed dialogue recorded when the films were shown in Spanish cinemas.

The Civil Guard said in a press release on Wednesday that the operation followed a complaint from the FAP Federation for the Protection of Intellectual Property and the movies portal, Comunidad Filmin.