The Dark Knight pirate jailed

A man has been sentenced to two years in prison for illegally recording "The Dark Knight" in a cinema and selling counterfeit DVD copies of the movie.

Robert Henderson of Grandview, Missouri was sentenced to a prison term of 24 months and ordered to pay $24,738 (£15,982) by a US court in Kansas City. The jail sentence will be followed by three years' probation.

Go to "The Dark Knight" movie page

Henderson pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement after he recorded the film on June 18, 2008 - the film's opening day.

The Vice President of the Motion Picture Association of America Content Protection, Mike Robinson, said: "The theft of films by camcording is a serious threat to the health of the motion picture industry and the 2.4 million Americans it employs."

"This is an appropriate sentence for a very serious crime, and we hope it will serve as a warning to would-be movie thieves that they will face severe consequences for engaging in these activities," he said.

The outcome will please Hollywood studios, who have pleaded for tougher sentences in cases of movie piracy.

Earlier in the month 20th Century Fox filed six lawsuits against people accused of selling DVDs featuring an early, incomplete version of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine".