$2.1M penalty over illegal DVDs

A federal judge in California has ordered a Long Island man to pay $2.1 million in damages to the makers of fitness DVDs after an investigation showed he sold counterfeit copies of the company's discs online.

Wayne Batchelor, of Uniondale, sold the bootleg P90X Extreme Home Fitness discs for $47.99 to one of the company’s private investigators, who used the online name “forensic cop”.

The DVD copyright holder, Product Partners LLC. — maker of the “Beachbody” line of exercise videos (those are real ones above left) — sets the retail price at  $119.85. The DVDs promoted in infomercials that claim they can "transform one's body from regular to ripped in 90 days."

From November 2009 to January 2010, Batchelor sold 129 sets of the counterfeit videos, containing 1,677 individual discs, the company said.

U.S. District Court Judge John F. Walter, in the Los Angeles case, ruled by summary judgment because he did not respond to the lawsuit. Batchelor was ordered to stop making the discs and to turn over any remaining copies to the company.

Batchelor could not be reached for comment Thursday at his Uniondale home, his father said. "I don't know anything about it. I'll find out what's going on and tell him to call you back," said his father, Joseph Batchelor.

Wayne Batchelor does not have $2.1 million, the father said. "You're kidding. He's on disability right now" with a knee problem. The father declined to say what kind of work his son does.

--------------------
Read more of Inside Long Island Business