A hapless music lover in the UK ended up in hot water this week after selling on Ebay copies of music he had downloaded from the Internet. Clive Kinsey downloaded his music and then sold it on for £4 a CD.
Cardiff Crown Court heard that Mr Kinsey was doing it out of love for music. “He actually enjoyed what he was doing,” said Mr Kinsey’s barrister. “He didn’t need to do it for the money.”
The money in question came to £13,600 (about $27,200) in an 18-month period. Trading standards investigators raided Mr Kinsey’s house and found 10,787 tracks that had been downloaded onto a computer.
Most of us at least know of someone who has downloaded that many tracks, if not more, but Mr Kinsey slipped it because he tried to profit from his free downloads.
Mr Kinsey was handed a suspended four-month jail sentence and ordered to complete 120 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay back the money he made from his music downloads.