0
Chinese Court Sentences Microsoft Pirates
11 jailed for counterfeit software ring with 'unprecedented' scope
By Katherine Thompson
|
Posted Dec 31, 08 9:59 AM CST
|
Share
(Newser)
–
A Chinese court has convicted 11 people of violating copyright laws and sentenced them to as much as 6 1/2 years of prison for working with a counterfeiting ring that sold fake Microsoft products around the world. Microsoft hailed the crackdown on the pirates, whose organization may have made $2 billion, the New York Times reports.
The highly convincing phony software, which included Windows XP and Office, was created in several languages and distributed to 36 countries in an operation a Microsoft attorney calls "absolutely unprecedented." It's unclear whether the defendants were the ringleaders of the sophisticated operation; in another trial in Shanghai, nine other suspects face similar charges.