Bootleg Movie Recording Bills Pass in Michigan

The Detroit Branch of Screen Actors Guild is pleased to announce that Governor Jennifer Granholm recently signed two House Bills that were written to help prevent bootleg movie recordings.

House Bill 5347 will amend the Michigan Penal Code to “prohibit and prescribe criminal penalties for knowingly operating an ‘audiovisual recording function’ of a device in a facility where a motion picture was being exhibited, without the consent of the facility’s owner or lessee and of the motion picture’s licensor. (“Audiovisual recording function” would mean the capability of a device to record or transmit a motion picture or any part of a motion picture by technological means.)”  The offense would be punishable as follows:

• First offense: (misdemeanor), one year maximum imprisonment, $10,000 maximum fine.
• Second offense: (felony), two years maximum imprisonment, $20,000 maximum fine. Third or subsequent offense: (felony), four years maximum imprisonment, $40,000 maximum fine.

House Bill 5336 will amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to include in the sentencing guidelines felony offenses proposed by House Bill 5347 the following:

• Operating audiovisual recording device in a theatrical facility, as a second offense – statutory maximum of two years imprisonment, and
• Operating audiovisual recording device in a theatrical facility, as a third or subsequent offense – statutory maximum of four years imprisonment.