Fred Weiss
09-23-2004, 05:49 PM
Busted! Fake Adobe software included in $87M seizure<CMSI@BP-HEAD />
By Don Fluckinger<CMSI@BP-FULLARTICLE />
Federal authorities announced charges levied against 11 people from California, Texas and Washington state in connection with the two-year software piracy undercover operation it called “Operation Digital Marauder.”
The prosecuting attorneys in Los Angeles said in a statement that the scope of the investigation was unprecedented, and that the defendants face sentences from 15 to 75 years if found guilty of the different charges of trafficking in counterfeit Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec software.
Microsoft first discovered parts of the scheme three years ago, company officials said, when users called in for tech support for software with bad registration numbers.
"In one indictment, we have charged both the manufacturers who supplied the counterfeit items and the distributors who flooded the market with bogus goods," U.S. Attorney Debra Yang said in Los Angeles. Microsoft says this is the largest seizure of counterfeit software in the company’s history.
By Don Fluckinger<CMSI@BP-FULLARTICLE />
Federal authorities announced charges levied against 11 people from California, Texas and Washington state in connection with the two-year software piracy undercover operation it called “Operation Digital Marauder.”
The prosecuting attorneys in Los Angeles said in a statement that the scope of the investigation was unprecedented, and that the defendants face sentences from 15 to 75 years if found guilty of the different charges of trafficking in counterfeit Adobe, Microsoft, and Symantec software.
Microsoft first discovered parts of the scheme three years ago, company officials said, when users called in for tech support for software with bad registration numbers.
"In one indictment, we have charged both the manufacturers who supplied the counterfeit items and the distributors who flooded the market with bogus goods," U.S. Attorney Debra Yang said in Los Angeles. Microsoft says this is the largest seizure of counterfeit software in the company’s history.