A former employee of an unnamed DVD and Blu-ray manufacturing and distribution company has been handed prison time for stealing major movies and selling them before their release date.
Steven Hale, 38, of Memphis, Tennessee, has been sentenced to almost five years in prison for illegally selling DVDs and Blu-rays of major movies before their release date.
The man worked for a multinational company that made and distributed DVDs and Blu-rays for major movie studios.
Hale stole hundreds of “pre-release” DVDs and Blu-rays between February 2021 and March 2022, which were being made for commercial distribution in the United States and not for domestic use.
Hale stole titles such as F9: The Fast Saga; Venom: Let There Be Carnage; Godzilla v Kong; Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings; Dune, and Black Widow.
One notable title, Spider-Man: No Way Home, was apparently ripped from Blu-ray by bypassing encryption protocols that prevent people from copying the flick.
The title was then made available online well before its scheduled release on Blu-ray. Copies of Spider-Man: No Way Home were downloaded tens of millions of times, with an estimated loss to the copyright owner being tens of millions of dollars, the Department of Justice said.
Hale was previously charged with copyright infringement and pleaded guilty to it in May 2025. As part of his restitution plan, Hale said he would return the 1,160 stolen DVDs and Blu-rays.
Torrenting and copyright are common ways for many US adults to watch their favorite films or TV shows before they’re released.
Torrenting is the act of downloading and distributing files using the BitTorrent protocol. This protocol allows people to share and download files from the Internet. People usually torrent movies, TV series, and music.
A survey of 1,000 US adults found that roughly 47% of people use torrenting websites to illegally access unreleased content.
Due to copyright laws, torrenting is illegal in various countries, including the UK, the US, New Zealand, and most places in the European Union. Downloading certain content, like Hollywood blockbusters, is copyright infringement and is illegal in many countries.
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