United States v. Cogill [1]

Kevin Cogill, a blogger on Antiquiet [2], a site that provides "uncensored music reviews and interviews," was arrested on August 27, 2008, at his home near Los Angeles on suspicion of violating federal copyright law after he allegedly posted [3] nine songs from the unreleased Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy."

Cogill allegedly posted the tracks on June 18, noting at the time that "I always said that the more that Axl and Geffen jerked around trying to figure out how to release this finally finished album that we’ve all been waiting over 13 years for, the greater the chances would be that it would slip out of a pressing plant or office somewhere and wind up in the hands of some asshole with a blog. So… Hey, I told you so." 

According to Rolling Stone [4], Cogill said he acquired the tracks from “an anonymous online source,” which he then allegedly made available through a streaming player on the blog.   Within hours, however, the tracks were taken down, but a nine-song zip file containing the tracks is widely available via file-sharing sites [5]. 

The FBI took an interest in the case shortly after the songs appeared on Cogill's blog, sending two FBI agents to visit him at work and at home, Rolling Stone [4] has reported.  Evidently feeling the pressure, Cogill posted a plea for legal help [6] on August 25, writing that, "more and more each day, it looks like I may be indicted."

Cogill has been charged under 17 U.S.C. § 506(a)(1)(C) [7], which implements the copyright amendments included in the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 [8].  The criminal complaint [9] filed against Cogill charges that he "knowingly and willfully distributed a copyrighted work being prepared for commercial distribution, namely nine previously unreleased songs by the band Guns n' Roses, by making the songs available on a computer network accessible to members of the public."  Section 506(a)(1)(C) makes the willful infringement of unpublished copyrighted material a felony punishable by up to three years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines.

Update:

10/20/08 - Cogill entered a plea of not guilty in federal court in Los Angeles

11/10/08 - Wired reports that Cogill intends to plead guilty; plea conference is scheduled [10] for December 8, 2008

12/15/08 - Cogill pled guilty to one count of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement. Cogill also signed a plea agreement [11] in which he agreed to cooperate with investigators.  He faces a maximum one year of confinement when sentenced in Los Angeles federal court on March 3.

3/1/09 - Prosecutors requested [12] that Cogill be sentenced to 6 months in prison.  Sentencing is scheduled for May 4.

7/14/2009: Magistrate Paul Abrams sentenced Cogill to one year of probation with two months house arrest. The court also ordered Cogill to pay a $25 special assessment and $2,500 in restitution, with interest.