Screeners for the films, The Last Samurai and Mystic River, were
sent to Caridi in the run up to last year's Oscars in order that he
might consider his vote.
Like all members of the Academy, 70-year old Caridi signed an
agreement promising not to circulate the films. But, according to
reports, he breached this agreement by passing the films onto a
friend, Russell Sprague from Illinois, who copied the films and
distributed them over the internet.
The pair were caught when a watermark on the copied films was
traced back to Caridi's screener.
In March, Sprague pled guilty to breaching the Digital Millenium
Copyright Act, which restricts the circumvention of copy-protection
systems. He is due to be sentenced shortly.
Caridi, on the other hand, faced a civil suit from Warner Bros,
to which he did not respond. Accordingly, on 17th November, Judge
Stephen Wilson of the Los Angeles District Court awarded a default
judgment in favour of Warner Bros amounting to $150,000 for each
film and $9,000 in costs.
"We hope that the court's award against Mr. Caridi as well as
the criminal sentence to be handed down against Sprague, whose
actions were equally destructive, will prove a deterrent against
the stealing of intellectual property," said Warner's spokesman
Darcy Antonellis.
Caridi was thrown out of the Academy in February this year,
according to reports.
