In 2019, at the "Orphan Works" trial, I was convicted of two counts of criminal copyright infringement and one count of mail fraud. If you're interested in reading about the trial, click here: USA v. Gordon and check out the transcripts I published on Amazon to help readers avoid the insanely high PACER fees.
The point of this blog section is to share the backstory of the investigation, trial, and the overall case against me. My sentencing took place on December 22, 2020, via video conference due to the escalating pandemic numbers, a format I actually requested. I was exhausted by the whole process and had simply had enough (10 years of this is enough—show me the light at the end of the tunnel, please!). What I didn't anticipate were the seemingly minor details that would be revealed, which would actually turn out to be major for me, and the inspiration I would draw from the entire experience.
I received a sentence of 60 months in a medical prison and two years of supervised release. When my lawyer remarked on how calm I seemed, I replied, "It was what I expected," and it was. I'll refrain from sharing my thoughts on the judge and his comments, but there were some interesting things that Chris Ruge, the prosecutor, said during sentencing. Mr. Ruge had taken over the case from James Moore, who retired in early 2020, shortly after the Presentence Report (PSR) was completed. (Note: A PSR is a document prepared by the Probation Office, with input from the prosecution, on which the judge bases the sentence.)
Mr. Ruge's statements were probably benign to anyone else, but his words spoke volumes to me. He said (and I'm paraphrasing since the sentencing transcript hasn't been made public yet), "This isn't a victimless crime." I'll mostly skip commenting on that, except to say it's a standard line used by the Motion Picture Association and other pro-copyright enforcement groups.
What I want to focus on is when Mr. Ruge said, "We obviously can't prosecute every person who commits copyright infringement, but we have done it before. A few years ago, we had the Berg Enterprises trademark case, which is very similar to this case."
True, trademark and copyright are both intellectual properties. But what's important is the other factor my case and the Berg case have in common: they were both pretextual prosecutions, where prosecutors target defendants based on suspicion of one crime but prosecute them for another, usually a lesser crime but one that's easier to prove.
In short, Berg Enterprises had a federal search warrant served on their place of business in 2011. The owner ultimately pleaded guilty to trademark infringement AND being an accessory after the fact in the French/Russell marijuana case. The marijuana case was the real target, and the trademark case was the way law enforcement gained access and more information by pressuring Berg Enterprises. Mr. Berg testified in the marijuana trial and was likely a key witness.
The local federal prosecutors were very proud of that case, so proud they gave themselves an award for it. Nothing says "job well done" like patting yourself on the back:
I know what you might be thinking: "What's the OTHER case in your situation? This sounds like a conspiracy theory!" I'm glad you asked, and I'll spend the next several blog entries explaining what I believe the other case is. I have no concrete proof, no smoking gun, but when you compare my copyright case and the Walmart Theft Ring case side-by-side, the connections and potential links between the two investigations make the puzzling aspects of my case make sense.
UPDATE 2021: The final restitution amount was released after my sentencing: $0.00 for the two copyright infringement charges. That's zero dollars. Even though the then-prosecutor told the media and jury that I "stole" almost a million dollars from Hollywood, the actual amount was zero. He either greatly exaggerated, didn't understand copyright law, or outright lied. I don't know. I spent several years trying to figure out Mr. James Moore's mindset, and I still don't understand his motivations. I have theories, which I'll explore in future blog entries.
Next time, we'll go back to 2006, the golden year when Blu-ray debuted, VHS was ejected by Hollywood, and I walked into a little shop in downtown Bangor called "Needful Things."
I want to end this entry with video that represents the Star Wars inspired theme of "Copy-Wronged." When I left my lawyer's office after sentencing, this house was across the street. No copyright infringement intended.
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