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Ordered to Pay $48,953 and Six Months of Home Confinement
The Business Software Alliance (BSA), which represents the world’s commercial software industry, applauds the announcement of a judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois’ Eastern Division against Daniel Smith of New Lenox, Illinois for selling illegal copies of Adobe products through the www.valuedesktop.com web site that he owned and operated.
Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys ordered Daniel Smith to six months of home confinement and five years of probation as well as full restitution of the $48,953 of profit that he made from his illegal sales. The judgment states that Smith must also cease from committing any future acts of copyright infringement and forfeit any and all infringing copies of such software in his possession or control.
From 2002 to 2007, Smith made the nearly $49,000 in profits from selling over 500 unauthorized copies of Adobe software products with an estimated combined market retail value of approximately $322,000. Records in the case describe how Smith sold pirated software on the Internet that had been “cracked” – meaning that security devices were altered, allowing for multiple illegal copies to be made. Buyers of the unauthorized software contacted Smith through the Value Desktop web site. Upon Smith receiving payment through a PayPal account, he would then email the buyers the pirated software with the “cracked” license numbers for installation. Due to the egregious nature of Smith’s actions, the case was ultimately referred to the U.S. Department of Justice by BSA’s global Internet Enforcement Program.
“This case serves as yet another example that people who expect to profit from the sale of illegal software to unsuspecting consumers will ultimately find themselves in a lot more trouble than they had bargained for,” said Paul Fournier, Manager of Internet Investigations for BSA. “Sentences like that received by Daniel Smith are far more common than software pirates would like to think. We hope his story will serve as a wake-up call to other individuals selling fraudulent software online that this is a very real crime with very tangible consequences.”
A study conducted in 2006 by IDC, the International Data Corporation, shows that malware and pirated software frequently co-exist on certain Web sites that offer access to pirated software. “At least a quarter of such sites were found to be rife with trojans and other security threats that are imbedded into downloaded products or distributed through other means to infect visitors’ computers and undermine IT security and performance,” continued Fournier. “Such statistics are a reminder to consumers that if the price is just too good to be true, it probably is. The risks of acquiring cheaper software are just too great.”
Financial Rewards for Software Piracy Tips
Under BSA’s “Know it, Report it, Reward it” program, the organization offers rewards of up to $1 million for qualifying reports of software piracy received via its hotline or online reporting form. Confidential reports can be made by visiting www.nopiracy.com or calling BSA’s hotline at 1-888-NO-PIRACY. Reward payments are subject to eligibility requirements, the details of which are provided on the Web site.
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, Corel, CyberLink, Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corporation, Embarcadero, McAfee, Microsoft, Minitab, Quark, Quest Software, Rosetta Stone, Siemens, Sybase, Symantec, and The MathWorks.
Matthew Clark 1.202.728.8766 matthew.clark@fd.com
United States
