![FBI Anti-piracy label on a CD. Photo by By Bizmac [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.](https://i0.wp.com/mynewsla-newspack.newspackstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/16-9-Anti-piracy-fbi-pirate.jpg?ssl=1)
City Attorney Mike Feuer announced Wednesday his office filed a lawsuit accusing a 29-year-old man of selling memory cards filled with pirated music and video games in downtown’s Fashion District.
The lawsuit accuses Leopoldo Lara of unfair business practices such as repeatedly selling pirated music CDs and movie DVDs, as well as small memory cards holding video games and hundreds of music files.
City attorneys are seeking a court order to bar Lara from the Fashion District and terms to prevent future piracy.
Lara has a history of selling pirated and counterfeit goods going back to at least 2003, including four convictions, nearly a dozen cease-and-desist letters and multiple arrests, according to Feuer’s office.
Feuer said this may be the first case in the United States accused a person of using memory cards to pirate intellectual property.
“Criminals know that it’s easier than ever to load thousands of songs on a digital storage device like memory cards and sell them for a significant profit,” said Marcus Cohen, vice president in charge of anti-piracy investigations at the Recording Industry Association of America.
He said the act of pirating music “is no petty crime” as it “threatens music business jobs and damages the important cultural and economic footprint of the music community throughout Los Angeles.”
Feuer said his office, which operates a counterfeit abatement unit, is “committed to aggressively rein in this serious crime.”
“Music piracy undermines one of L.A.’s signature industries, robbing our workforce of precious jobs, depriving our city of needed tax revenue and frustrating artists’ creativity,” he said.
— City News Service