July 24th, 2007
FBI, Chinese bust huge software piracy ring
The FBI and Chinese police made a huge software piracy bust, officials said Tuesday, arresting two software piracy gangs and seizing $500 million worth of pirated software, AP reports.
Police arrested 25 people, seizing 360,000 programs, mostly from Microsoft and Symantec, and property valued at $7.9 million. The gangs allegedly operated from Shanghai and Shenzhen.
The bust started in 2005 when police discovered that Chinese gangs were colluding with suspects in the United States and notified the FBI’s Beijing office. At least two Chinese men from Shenzhen were suspected of producing and selling pirated software in the United States, Gao said.
The FBI believes that 70% of the pirated software was sold to the United States, with the rest going to Canada, Australia and Britain and other English-speaking nations. The suspects are being charged with copyright violations.
“The majority of Chinese-based distributors advertised their products aggressively and recruited distributors via the Internet,” the FBI said.
Microsoft counsel Brad Smith was jumping for joy.
“This case should serve as a wake-up call to counterfeiters. Customers around the world are turning you in, governments and law enforcement have had enough, and private companies will act decisively to protect intellectual property.”
