According to The Daily Mail, FilmOn.com’s founder Alki David has committed himself to paying the legal costs of a 23-year-old student who is facing extradition to the U.S. due to being charged with copyright theft.

According to the article, Richard O’Dwyer has been accused of running a website that hosts links to sites that allowed users to illegally download films, resulting in copyright theft. Also, allegedly, O’Dwyer has profited from his site, making nearly £150,000. While the crimes he is accused of aren’t illegal in Great Britain, he could face the courts in the U.S.

O’Dwyer’s lawyer, Ben Cooper, has put forth the argument that O’Dwyer’s site didn’t house the copyrighted material itself and just pointed users to other websites, much like how search engines like Google or studio owned Search.com work. However, extradition for O’Dwyer is still up in the air.

David said that he would support O’Dwyer. “It is not acceptable to steal copyrighted material…[b]ut I do not necessarily believe Richard was acting illegally,” he said. “I will support all legal costs if he is extradited.”

According to the article, David said he sympathized with O’Dwyer’s due to his own battles with the courts–David himself had been charged with copyright infringement due to his business, which allows subscribers to watch television online.

You can read more of the details of O’Dwyer’s ordeal and David’s involvement in The Daily Mail.

Julia and Mother Richard O'Dwyer

By Monique Jones

Monique Jones blogs about race and culture in entertainment, particularly movies and television. You can read her articles at Racialicious, and her new site, COLOR . You can also listen to her new podcast, What would Monique Say.

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