Software pirate jailed and $200k cash seized

July 24, 2008

SIIA, The Software & Information Industry Association has notched up another victory in the fight against counterfeiting with a successful prosecution of a software pirate (link opens in PDF).

The sentence handed down is 4 years jail, 3 years parole for community services and seizure of computers and $220k in cash.

SIIA have now filed 32 lawsuits in 2008 including 6 new cases filed today on behalf of Adobe. SIIA said “We’ve been much more aggressive in filing lawsuits this year and intend to send a clear message that auctioning counterfeit and unauthorized software will lead to serious penalties” that the “case demonstrates that these pirates won’t simply get a slap on the wrist when caught – they very well may end up doing serious time in federal prison”.

If you see a listing on eBay that you suspect is counterfeit software you can report it to SIIA on their website.

In related news another case has been settled in the US upholding the right to resell legitimate software on eBay. The court ruled that a software license’s “ban on transferring the software is of no consequence under the Copyright Act” and purchasers are free to dispose of software they no longer require.

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News | 1 Comment 

eBay UK join anti-piracy campaign

April 21, 2008

This post was written in April 2008; specific information contained within it may be out of date.

eBay UK have announced that they’ve teamed up with the government’s Knock-Off Nigel campaign, with the launch of their own eBay against Counterfeits campaign. Content on the UK homepage and DVD-related pages will, for the next two weeks, direct eBay users to the campaign portal, which gives guidance on how to spot counterfeit DVDs on eBay and what to do if you unwittingly buy one.

I’m glad to see eBay meeting this issue head-on; hopefully explaining to buyers exactly what phrases like “not even released yet” and “can’t vouch for authenticity” mean, should cut down on the number of fakes available in the media categories on eBay UK. If you’ve managed to miss the Knock-Off Nigel advert so far (you lucky person), then here it is:

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Featured | Comments Off