Three residents of Lakeland, Fla., were indicted today by a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., related to their participation in a conspiracy to sell millions of dollars of pirated computer software.
Maurice A. Robberson, 58; Thomas K. Robberson, 54; and Alton Lee Grooms, 56, were charged with one count each of conspiracy to violate copyright and counterfeiting laws for their participation in a conspiracy to sell more than $5 million in counterfeit copyrighted software. Maurice Robberson was also charged with a substantive count of felony copyright infringement and one count of trafficking in counterfeit goods, while Thomas Robberson was charged with one substantive felony count of copyright infringement and two counts of trafficking in counterfeit goods.
Another member of the conspiracy, Danny Ferrer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and copyright infringement charges on June 15, 2006, and is currently serving 60 months in federal prison.
According to the indictment, the three defendants conspired with Danny Ferrer to sell more than $5 million in counterfeit copyrighted software. The Internet websites used by the conspiracy included: BuysUSA.com, CDSalesUSA.com, AmericanSoftWareSales.com, TheDealDepot.net, and BestValueShoppe.com.
The indictment alleges that, from late 2002 through October 2005, these individuals ran businesses that sold counterfeit software from companies such as Adobe Systems Inc., Autodesk Inc., and Macromedia Inc. at discount prices. These counterfeit items were manufactured by members of the conspiracy and included labels that featured trademarks and service marks of the legitimate software companies.
The investigation of these individuals was conducted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Washington Field Office. After receiving complaints from software copyright holders about BuysUSA.com, an undercover FBI agent made a number of purchases of business and utility software. After further investigation, an array of related websites were discovered.
In October 2005, seven search warrants were executed in Florida by law enforcement on residences and businesses associated with the conspiracy.
The Business Software Alliance, a trade association which represents leading computer software companies, provided significant assistance to the investigation.
This case is being prosecuted by Jay V. Prabhu, Senior Counsel for the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, and Edmund P. Power, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Extradited Pirate Pleads Guilty The leader of one of the oldest and most renowned Internet software piracy groups has pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement charges, in one of the first ever extraditions for an intellectual property offense, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.
Internet Software Pirate Arraigned In one of the first ever extraditions for an intellectual property offense, the leader of one of the oldest and most renowned Internet software piracy groups was arraigned in U.S. District Court, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg for the Eastern District of Virginia announced today.
RIAA Targets 12 Piracy Hot Spots The copying and trafficking of pirated music is an increasingly sophisticated trade plied by savvy multi-state criminal operations that distribute illegal product designed to resemble authentic CDs and replace legitimate sales, according to new data and analysis released today by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in a report on commercial piracy.
Software Pirate Convicted iBackups sold pirated software over the Internet, claiming it was “backup software” - legal copies of software to be used by the software owner for backup in case of system crashes. It is, however, illegal to resell such copies. iBackups used Google “ad words” extensively to recruit customers. SIIA would like to point out that this indicates a necessity for buyers to be aware of the possibility that software being sold through such ads might not be legal. The same vigilance that buyers need when buying software from other kinds of online sources should be maintained when contacting text ad sellers.
Scientists and engineers have created and successfully tested a set of algorithms and software programs which are designed to enable the 19 individual mirrors comprising NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope to function as one very sensitive telescope.
NASA researchers will present findings on these algorithms and software programs, called the "Wavefront Sensing and Controls" at the Optics and Photonics meeting of the Society for Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) meeting. The SPIE meeting will be held at the San Diego Convention Center, 111 West Harbor Drive, San Diego, Calif., August 26-30. The session, called "TRL-6 for JWST Wavefront Sensing and Control" will be on Sunday, August 26 from 11:30 a.m. - 11:50 a.m. PDT, in room 29B, and is Paper 6687-7 of Conference 6687.
The Results Group, L.L.C., and its co-owners are banned from telemarketing, and will give up thousands of dollars in cash, the proceeds from the sale of luxury sports cars, and the value of life insurance policies and a Las Vegas real estate deal, to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they deceptively sold home-based Internet business opportunities to consumers throughout the United States. The Phoenix-based boiler room operation will return about $435,000 to consumers. The FTC and Arizona Attorney General’s office cooperated extensively on this investigation; the Attorney General also is bringing a parallel case against the same schemers.
Sponsored links are a money maker for search engines, but a Penn State study using a search engine's transaction log indicates consumers click on sponsored listings fewer than two times out of every 10 searches, a rate which suggests consumers still prefer organic or non-sponsored links.
The analysis is one of the first-ever academic studies of sponsored-link click through using actual search engine data, said Jim Jansen, an assistant professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) and lead author.
RealNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK), MTV Networks, and Verizon Wireless are teaming to create a single, integrated digital music experience that consumers can access via their PC, portable music device or mobile phone. Promising to be ultra-rich in music culture, programming and discovery. Verizon Wireless' V CAST Music will become the mobile platform for the integrated Rhapsody service.
Five men have been indicted on charges of participating in an identity theft ring targeting wealthy Americans. The defendants – four of whom were arrested today and are in custody in Michigan, Texas, Florida and Kentucky -- have been charged with stealing $1.5 million and attempting to steal another $10.7 million from their victims’ financial accounts. Another defendant was arrested in May and is in custody in New York.