WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Oregon college student who gave away music, and software on the Web has become the first person convicted of a felony under a U.S. law punishing Internet copyright piracy, the government said Friday.

Jeffrey Gerard Levy, 22, a senior at the University of Oregon in Eugene, pleaded guilty to violating the No
Electronic Theft Act of 1997, the Justice Department announced.

The Justice Department said Levy admitted that in January of this year he ``illegally posted computer software programs, musical recordings, entertainment software programs and digitally recorded movies on his Internet Web site, allowing the general public to download and copy these copyrighted products.''

A Justice Department official said there was no evidence that Legy had made any profit from the freely available works.

Anybody who distributes 10 or more copyrighted works with a value of more than $2,500 can face up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Levy faces sentencing Nov. 2.