Wiped Out!
- Publication: Crawley News
- Date: 1998-07-08
- Author:
- Page: 2
- Language: English
Dr Who fan in copyright breach
AN AVID Dr Who fan has seen his collection of rare footage from the television series exterminated by magistrates after he was found illegally producing material for fellow fanatics.
Dad-of-two Stephen Bennett, 39, a house husband, broke copyright rules by producing copies of the scarce footage for fans of the cult series. This week, as Crawley magistrates ordered the destruction of the footage he had acquired from abandoned BBC material, Bennett said: "It was all for the fans."
Michael Grace, prosecuting for the Federation Against Copyright Theft, said Bennett, a member of the Crawley and East Grinstead Branch of the Dr Who group, was caught out when police raided his Climping Road, Ifield home.
He said machinery for duplicating tapes, CDs, two video machines, a double audio cassette player, inlay sleeves and labels were found during the search.
Mr Grace said: "This is a man whose overiding passion and interest in Dr Who has clouded his vision as to what is legal and what isn't."
Alistair Harper. defending. said: "The market was very limited -- in essence avail. able to others similar to Mr Bennett.
"He was nut deliberately seeking to flout the law — he did not consider he was doing anything We-gal."
Mr Harper added that Bennett had helped run a number of Dr Who functions in aid of local charity.
He said Bennett had been a fan of the show since 1970 and had a large collection of memorabilia, including videos and magazines.
Bennett pleaded guilty to possessing compact discs, inlay sleeves for audio and video cassettes, video cassettes and audio cassette recordings. all of which infringed copyright procedures.
Crawley magistrates gave him a two-year conditional discharge and £150 costs.
After the case. Mr Bennett said: "I am still interested in Dr Who but now I check every photo to make sure it is allowed."
And he vowed: "I will still be carrying on with the Dr Who conventions."
Disclaimer: These citations are created on-the-fly using primitive parsing techniques. You should double-check all citations. Send feedback to whovian@cuttingsarchive.org
- APA 6th ed.: (1998-07-08). Wiped Out!. Crawley News p. 2.
- MLA 7th ed.: "Wiped Out!." Crawley News [add city] 1998-07-08, 2. Print.
- Chicago 15th ed.: "Wiped Out!." Crawley News, edition, sec., 1998-07-08
- Turabian: "Wiped Out!." Crawley News, 1998-07-08, section, 2 edition.
- Wikipedia (this article): <ref>{{cite news| title=Wiped Out! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Wiped_Out! | work=Crawley News | pages=2 | date=1998-07-08 | via=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=15 April 2025 }}</ref>
- Wikipedia (this page): <ref>{{cite web | title=Wiped Out! | url=http://cuttingsarchive.org/index.php/Wiped_Out! | work=Doctor Who Cuttings Archive | accessdate=15 April 2025}}</ref>
