[Fsf-friends] NEWS-US: Nine-year jail term for US software "piracy" accused

[Frederick Noronha]

Quite a story! Reminds one of RMS labelling such organisations as
"terrorist". FN

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Nine-year jail term for U.S. software piracy accused

By Vasantha Arora, Indo-Asian News Service

Washington, Nov 26 (IANS) A 52-year-old Taiwanese woman has been sentenced
to nine years in prison for one the largest software piracy cases in the
U.S.

The sentence for Lisa Chen was one of the longest prison terms in the U.S.
for a case involving software theft.

Chen was arrested along with three associates in November last year after
county officials seized hundreds of thousands of copies of pirated software
worth more than $75 million that the four were believed to have smuggled
into the country from Taiwan, the district attorney for the county of Los
Angeles said.

Symantec, whose software was involved in the smuggling operation, later put
the value of the software at $98 million, according to media and PC
World.Com reports.

The pirated software included copies of Microsoft's Windows XP and Office
2000 desktop software, as well as Symantec's Norton AntiVirus software, the
district attorney's office said.

More than 600,000 units of Symantec's software alone were seized in the
raid, according to Symantec. The forgeries were apparently of high quality
and came with professionally printed packaging as well as manuals and user
license agreements.

Chen was apprehended when she drove up to a warehouse that police were
searching for evidence. Her business was located in Alhambra, part of
greater Los Angeles. The car Chen was driving was filled with copies of
counterfeited software, according to published reports.

Chen, who listed her residence in New Jersey at the time of her arrest, was
described by law enforcement officials as a "manager" in the smuggling
operation, responsible for distributing the pirated software and collecting
payments from customers.

Chen and her associates were believed to have been importing pirated
software made in Taiwan to the U.S. since 1998, the reports said.

In August, Chen pleaded no contest to one count of failure to disclose the
origin of a recording or product. In return for her plea, Chen was
guaranteed a prison term of no more than nine years.

In addition to her prison sentence, Chen will have to pay $11 million in
restitution to Microsoft and Symantec.

Symantec released a statement expressing satisfaction with the ruling and
warning of the dangers of buying and using pirated software.

"The successful prosecution of this case is a tremendous step forward by law
enforcement authorities and the combined efforts of the software industry
towards stopping the proliferation of illegal copying and distribution of
software," Symantec said.

Microsoft could not immediately be reached for comment.

The software seizure was one of the largest in U.S. history.

It was the result of an 18-month undercover investigation by the U.S.
Customs Service and the Southern California Regional High Tech Task Force,
the U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

--Indo-Asian News Service