Internet pirates 'cost software firm hundreds of millions' of dollars
6643
Athens police said they had arrested a Greek citizen who pirated and sold a computer software program, costing the multinational company that owned its copyright hundreds of million of dollars (euros).
409824
Owner of one of the nation's largest software piracy Web sites receives the longest sentence ever handed down for software piracy.
532462
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will attempt to salvage parts of a $170 million case-management software package despite growing criticism that the 4-year-old project doesn't work as expected.ADVERTISEMENTReducing the Total Cost of OwnershipLearn how to reduce the total coast of ownership in enterprise data management in this case study.
623365
An Australian song-share website which offered links to music download sites was dubbed one of the world's largest copyright infringers in a landmark 500 million Australian dollar (374 million US) case.
140383
The owner of one of the nation's largest Internet software piracy Web sites has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
503126
Antivirus vendor may pay $13 billion for the storage software company.
28973
InfoWorld - Two more defendants have pleaded guilty to charges of criminal copyright infringement for selling counterfeit software with a retail value of nearly $6 million on eBay Inc., the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
605628
A Florida man who made millions of dollars selling illegal copies of computer programs was sentenced Friday to six years in prison in one of the nation's largest software piracy cases.
608509
Making illegal copies of computer games and desktop applications is one thing, but ripping off enterprise software is entirely another.
479015
InfoWorld - The leader of one of the oldest and most widely recognized Internet software piracy groups was sentenced Friday to 51 months in prison on one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.
508495
Microsoft is telling the tale of a major software piracy investigation that weaved through 22 countries
294959
(InfoWorld) - California police arrested a man on Tuesday who allegedly sold illegally copied Microsoft and Adobe Systems software on the Internet for seven years, netting him an estimated $750,000. Gad Zamir, 64, of Menifee, California, was arrested after an eight-month investigation, said the Computer and Technology Crime High-Tech Response Team of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. Zamir allegedly copied and then sold the programs on online auctions sites, the team said. TheÂ pirated softwareÂ included Microsoft's SQL Server 2000 Enterprise -- a $25,000 program at the time of its release -- which he allegedly sold on the auction sites for $7,750, and Adobe's Creative Suite 2, which sold below market price at $280, police said. Police said they found 15 computers, $13,000 in cash, and software valued at $283,000 in Zamir's home, calling it a "mid-level" piracy operation. Microsoft praised the arrest, calling it an "important victory in what is an ongoing, global fight." Â
682590
(InfoWorld) - The leader of one of the oldest and most widely recognized Internet software piracy groups was sentenced Friday to 51 months in prison on one count of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement, the U.S. Department of Justice announced. Hew Raymond Griffiths, 44, was extradited to the U.S. from Australia in February, and in April, he pleaded guilty to two copyright-related charges in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. Griffiths, a British national, was the long-time leader of the DrinkOrDie software piracy network and an elder in the underground Internet piracy community, known as the warez scene, the DOJ said. He faced a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a US$500,000 fine for the charges. Griffiths "became one of the most notorious leaders of the underground Internet piracy community by orchestrating the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars in copyrighted material," Alice Fisher, assistant attorney general at the DOJ, said in a statement. Griffiths had fought extradition for almost three years, and he was held in an Australian detention center during that time. His extradition was one of the first for a copyright offense, the DOJ said in a press release. "Whether committed with a gun or a keyboard -- theft is theft," U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg of the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement. "And, for those inclined to steal Intellectual Property here, or from half-way around the world, they are on notice that we can and will reach them." DrinkOrDie was founded in Russia in 1993 and expanded internationally throughout the 1990s. The group was dismantled by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in December 2001, with more than 70 raids conducted in the U.S. and five other countries, the U.K., Finland, Norway, Sweden and Australia. The operation targeting DrinkOrDie has resulted in more than 30 felony convictions in the U.S. and 11 convictions elsewhere, the DOJ said. The DOJ estimated that DrinkOrDie was responsible for the reproduction and distribution of more than $50 million worth of pirated software, movies, games and music. In a 1999 interview, Griffiths said he ran DrinkOrDie's day-to-day operations and controlled access to more than 20 top warez servers worldwide. He said then he would never be caught. DrinkOrDie specialized in cracking software codes and distributing the cracked versions over the Internet. The group distributed software from large companies such as Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc. and Symantec Corp., as well as smaller software vendors, the DOJ said. The group used encryption and other security measures to hide their activities from police.
343812
A company that sells ripping software for high-definition disks operates through a corporate maze reaching from Ireland to Antigua. Good luck, MPAA. In 27B Stroke 6.
720509
Multimillion-dollar price tags are springing up. And not just for Porn.com.
50723
The Business Software Alliance scores a record settlement in a copyright infringement case.
464359
A federal judge sentences one of the largest U.S. software pirates to pay $5.4 million and forfeit homes, cars and a boat that he bought with proceeds from his scheme -- and spend 87 months in the hoosegow.