TEENAGER ARRESTED FOR FILMING SPIDER-MAN 2

A teenager making an illegal copy of SPIDER-MAN 2 on its opening night in America (30JUN04) has been arrested.

The 16-year-old and two friends were removed from a Los Angeles movie theatre after being picked out by a projectionist using night-vision goggles to scan the crowd.

The MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA's (MPAA) director of anti-piracy operations JAMES W SPERTUS says, "There are now thousands of eyes looking for camcording-pirates and this incident proves who use these devices in theatres will be caught."

The teenager could be charged under a new law which makes it illegal to take a recording device into a cinema.

He is now waiting for the city's district attorney's office to decide whether to charge the unnamed youngster with illegally taking a camcorder into a cinema.

SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT's JEFF BLAKE says, "Hundreds of people have put tens of thousands of hours into making a truly great picture and the notion of having it stolen and sent out for free around the world is just plain wrong."