EBay Pirate Gets 27 Months for Selling $700,000 in Counterfeit Software
Man Made $4000 on EBay for Pirated Software Worth Much More
This indictment follows on the heels of public statements made by eBay to crack down on fraud and privacy in 2007. Recently, hundreds of pirated DVDs were seized in the UK. Anti-piracy organization, the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), has teamed up with eBay and warned it will prosecute persistent offenders.
Smith's arrest was a result of a U.S. Department of Justice initiative to combat online auction piracy.
Smith admitted today that he purchased counterfeit Rockwell Automation computer software through eBay and then duplicated and sold the copies to other eBay users. The sales were made on 32 separate auction listings in the spring of 2004.
While Smith received $4,149.97, the actual retail value of the corporate factory management software was in excess of $700,000. The majority of the software programs Smith sold on eBay retail from approximately $900 to $11,325 each.
"Mr. Smith exploited eBay to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit software at drastically reduced prices, thereby illegally profiting on the back of the copyright holder," said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. "The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting individuals who exploit legitimate online auction sites to sell pirated software and commit other acts of fraud."
In December 2004, Smith originally admitted to FBI investigators that he knew it was illegal to sell copyrighted software, and that he not only manufactured and sold the counterfeit software on eBay, but also that he produced his own Rockwell Automation Software labels to affix to the pirated copies.
Smith has forfeited the equipment he used to forge the software and will make restitution to Rockwell Automation in the amount of $5,200.45. Judge Barker also ordered Smith to pay a $2,000 fine, and serve two years of supervised release upon completion of incarceration.
FACT recently launched a guide on eBay (UK), giving advice to both sellers and buyers of DVDs. While this guide is not prominent on the U.S. eBay site, consumers can visit the eBay security center to minimize the risk associated with online auction fraud.
Movie and software piracy costs the U.S. economy $250 billion and 50,000 jobs annually, according to U.S. Attorney General, Alberto R. Gonzales.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, (http://www.USDOJ.gov)
Web user (http://www.webuser.co.uk/)
Computer Active (http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/news/2185552/ebay-fact-crackdown-counterfeit)
Published by Donna Porter
Writer / Journalist -- A Yahoo News! Contributor Donna began her writing and internet career in 1995 in the health industry and became an early dot-com entrepreneur soon after. Masters certified in Internet... View profile
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7 Comments
Post a CommentInteresting Dana -- though I was trying to keep my perspective out of it as it's news. :-) You do have a very good point though that the consumer is nearly wholly unconsidered in software pricing. Writing an article on such would be a good idea, if I were to write one I'm honestly not sure what I'd say, Go Pirates (?) ...no probably not.
Is it possible that the scale of economies issue in these areas isn't being properly handled- the companies aren't looking at the issues reasonably? As an example is the Windows XP operating system worth $189.00? Is it worth $78.00? Is it worth $37.00? Is it worth $0.00? Now we all know it is worth more than nothing- and that it obviously cost MS a lot to develop, however, at some point, consumers actually need to be considered in the paradigm, and they aren't- let me emphasize that one more time, in the software industry, consumers are NOT considered in the pricing paradigm- why is that(?) - because nearly every computer and laptop you buy has MS as an operating system already installed on it - so the push on the economy of scale comes at the point of upgrading! Welcome to the wonderful world of VISTA. The article was great - but I just think that the subject needs to be looked at from a little bit different perspective... -Dana
Too funny Jerry and Lee...Hee hee
Piracy over the internet, man even the pirates these days are getting lazy. They don't make pirates like used to. ARRRRGG!
One down; millions to go...
I'm glad that someone finally got caught. Maybe it will discourage others from doing this!
Whoa. Hope this wakes up some other pirates to the risks of what they are doing.