The guy who leaked Guns N Roses' 'Chinese Democracy' onto the internet ahead of its release last year could get a multi-month jail term if the feds who have pursued the criminal copyright infringement case against him get their way.
According to court papers seen by Wired magazine, federal prosecutors want Kevin Cogill to get a six month prison sentence, which seems a bit extreme, though presumably they hope to make an example of him. Prosecutor Craig Missakian reportedly writes in the papers: "Making a pre-release work available to the worldwide public over the internet where it can be copied without limit is arguably one of the more insidious forms of copyright infringement". The uploader could also face a $371,622 fine.
There are reports that the prosecution may cite the long-awaited Axl Rose album's relatively disappointing first week sales - 261,000 - in their case, claiming the leak directly impacted on record sales. Certainly anyone who heard the anti-climax of an album before its release would have been less likely to go out and buy it - but there were official streaming previews before release any way. And surely the reason nobody bought the album in its first week of sale was because they were all too busy desperately trying to get through to the Dr Pepper website to claim their free drink.
On the up side for Coghill, some legal experts doubt the judge will opt for a custodial sentence, and reports suggest the Recording Industry Association Of America has agreed to accept much lower damages than it was originally demanding in relation to the upload, perhaps recognising that the leak and the reporting of it was a damn sight more exciting than the actual album.