11 pirates, considered the “world’s biggest” software pirates, have been sentenced to jail time today by the Futian People’s Court in Shenzhen, China.
The group were ‘ringleaders’ in a counterfeiting syndicate that specialized in ‘high-quality’ fake Microsoft software. It is estimated that the pirates manufactured over $2 billion USD worth of counterfeits.
The sentences, the longest ever for intellectual property crimes in China, ranged from 1 year to 6.5.
The counterfeits were found in 36 separate countries on five continents and were produced in at least 11 languages.
The Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) was responsible for tracking down the pirates and the bureau claims “tens of thousands” of buyers verified the software was fake using Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage.
Result for: property crimes
During a speech to Silicon Valley executives at the Tech Museum of Innovation, Attorney General Michael Mukasey warned that the “enormous” profits made from counterfeiting and piracy is flowing into the hands of terrorists and terrorist organizations.
Mukasey added that the “economy and national security of the United States are increasingly threatened by violations involving copyrighted software code, patented inventions and trademarked properties.”
Terrorists are starting to perform more like organized crime and are increasingly using piracy and counterfeiting money to fund their operations, Mukasey says.
The Attorney General also noted that his department was now giving more resources to prosecuting intellectual property crimes, which has led to a 40 percent increase in IP cases since 2005.
“Criminal syndicates, and in some cases even terrorist groups, view IP crime as a lucrative business and see it as a low-risk way to fund other activities,” Mukasey said. “A primary goal of our IP enforcement mission is to show these criminals that they’re wrong.”
