Don't mess with the judge!

Captain Jack Sparrow's popularity proves that everybody loves a good pirate, but not when they're stealing money from hard working developers and gaming companies.

A 38 year old man was found guilty of breaking Copyright Law by the Kyoto District Court on Monday for using the internet to distribute pirated software for the Nintendo DS.

Yoshiaki Asagiri was sentenced to spend two and a half years in prison, and a total of 9.13 million yen in fines and damages - a total of over $96,000 USD. Ouch!

According to the ruling, by Judge Junichi Tochigi, Asagiri distributed pirated DS software online over July and August last year. Said the Judge:

You trampled over the hard work of those copyright holders who paid the costs of producing these works and caused a great deal of damage.

This is still a big issue in a lot of countries, and always will be - pirated software is still being bought by the millions, so it's good to see people like Asagiri get exactly what they deserve.

[source mdn.mainichi.jp]