HONG KONG, Apr 29 (AP) -- A Hong Kong man on Friday pleaded innocent to violating copyright laws by uploading three movies onto the Internet using the popular BitTorrent file-sharing software.

Chan Nai-ming, 38, was arrested in January for allegedly uploading the Hollywood films, "Daredevil," "Red Planet" and "Miss Congeniality," onto a Web site so that others could obtain them -- the first such arrest in Hong Kong.

On Friday, Chan faced three counts of attempting to distribute copyrighted material without authorization. The magistrate ordered him to appear in court again on June 23 and granted him bail of 5,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$641; €496).

If convicted, Chan faces up to four years in prison and a fine of 50,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$6,410; €4,963) for every illegal copy.

BitTorrent software lets computer users share large chunks of data.

Because of its speed, BitTorrent steadily gained in popularity after the recording industry began cracking down on users of Kazaa, Morpheus, Grokster and other established file-sharing software.

Officials have promised to step up copyright protection efforts in Hong Kong, which is known for its fake luxury goods and illegally copied music and films.