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Software Pirate Gets Four Years; eBay May Face Lawsuit
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Michael Barkoviak / DailyTech
July 29, 2008
‘An Oregon man will spend the next four years in prison for his role in selling counterfeit software on eBay.’ -
Convicted software pirate Jeremiah Mondello was sentenced last week to a four-year prison sentence after being caught and convicted of selling pirated software through eBay. In addition to selling the counterfeit software, Mondello also admitted to identity theft after stealing personal information so he could create new PayPal accounts.
Mondello was responsible for using as many as 40 fake usernames to sell up to $1 million in counterfeit software between December 2005 and October 2007, the government alleged. Officially, he was convicted of criminal copyright infringement, aggravated identity theft, and mail fraud.
Mondello will also have three years of supervised release and must perform 450 hours of community service once he is released from prison.
During his three year stint as an eBay business guru, Mondello reportedly made up to $300,000 selling Intuit Quicken financial software for $30 per copy.
He’s free on bail at the moment, but must report to jail to begin his sentence in the next 60 days.
“I just sold a few to pay for gas and lunch,” Mondello told Wired in an exclusive interview, explaining how he entered the world of counterfeiting. “I was on financial aid. I didn’t want to take out any more student loans. That was the starting motivation. Later, I guess I kind of decided I thought it would be a good idea to save some money and start my own business and do some travel.”
To date, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has successfully convicted 29 people who were involved in counterfeit software being sold online through auction web sites.
The latest controversy surrounding pirated software may yet again see eBay in legal hot water with manufacturers and the government. The Software and Information Industry Association is thinking about suing eBay over the counterfeit goods.
If it chooses not to file a lawsuit against eBay, however, the software group may petition Congress to consider rewriting the Digital Millennium Act so that online auction houses will have to be responsible for the actions of their users.
EBay already faces legal pressure in several different nations from a handful of companies trying to force the auction site to take responsibility for what its users sell through the site. EBay recently lost in a French court after Louis Vuitton won a reported $63 million from the company.
In the U.S., eBay won a suit against Tiffany, after the judge said the site effectively took “reasonable action” to try and stop fraudsters from selling copyrighted material through the site.
© 2008, DailyTech
