🚔 Fights, theft, forgery · Awareness case
An American Sold 180,000 Pirated DVDs Online from Shanghai — Two and a Half Years, RMB 500,000 Fine and Expulsion · Yalla China
🤝 Governing law: 刑法 第218条、第35条 / Criminal Law Arts 218 & 35
From 2002 to 2004 an American living in Shanghai sold over 180,000 pirated DVDs to overseas buyers via eBay and his own site; in 2005 the court convicted him of selling infringing copies, and he and an American accomplice were expelled.
Illustrative, general educational examples — not real specific facts and not legal advice; for awareness only. For an actual situation, consult a licensed lawyer.
According to the Gazette of the Supreme People's Court: Randolph Hobson Guthrie III (Chinese name Gu Randi), a 37-year-old American living in Shanghai, sold from his flat between 18 October 2002 and 1 July 2004 — with no business registration or audio-visual licence — more than 180,000 pirated DVDs to buyers abroad: about 53,000 via eBay and 133,000 via "threedollardvd.com". Turnover exceeded RMB 7.13 million and profit RMB 2.02 million; another 119,000 discs were seized. Two Chinese and another American, Cody Abram Thrush, helped him. Prosecutors charged illegal business operation, but the Shanghai No.2 Intermediate Court recharacterised the offence as selling infringing copies and on 19 April 2005 sentenced Guthrie to two years six months, a RMB 500,000 fine and expulsion, and Thrush to one year, a RMB 10,000 fine and expulsion. No one appealed. Basis: Criminal Law Art 218 (selling infringing copies) and Arts 6 & 35 (expulsion).
🎓 The lesson / takeaway
Selling to buyers abroad does not make piracy lawful — the crime was committed from inside China. Running an unregistered, unlicensed business from home can bring prison and expulsion for a foreigner.
🕒 Updated: 16 March 2026