A South African accused of uploading a film to The Pirate Bay has been arrested in Cape Town, CEO of the Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft (Safact), Corné Guldenpfennig has told MyBroadband.

Guldenpfennig said that she could not yet reveal the name of the film that was uploaded, but said it was a high-profile South African film.

Asked how they were able to establish that this person uploaded the film, Guldenpfennig said that they have an in-house investigations team that monitors the Internet for high-profile titles.

The senior investigator on this E-Task Team is an internationally accredited CEH, or certified ethical hacker, Guldenpfennig said.

This team was able to identify, profile, and trace the uploader based on their investigation on the Internet, Guldenpfennig said.

“Downloaders think they can hide on the Internet. Uploaders think they can hide, but they can’t no matter how smart they think they are,” Guldenpfennig said.

Possible landmark case

Asked whether this is the first case of its sort on South Africa, Guldenpfennig said, “Definitely.”

“You have to be extremely careful before making a first example,” Guldenpfennig said. “We made extremely certain of all the rights issues around this situation.”

Guldenpfennig said that they will bring charges against the person arrested in terms of the Counterfeit Goods Act and article 27 of the Copyright Act. Safact is investigating other charges, Guldenpfennig said.

The accused is set to appear in the Commercial Crimes Court in Cape Town on Friday, 13 December 2013, Guldenpfennig said.

More on copyright infringement and intellectual property in South Africa

Beware copyright treaties: DTI

SA Internet users must be allowed to copy and share (for research): DTI

Is online piracy theft?

Online Piracy: What happens when you get caught

Warning: Piracy over P2P a crime