Two Convicted of Selling $6 Million Worth of Counterfeit Software on eBay

Cyber Crime, Jul 23, 2007

WASHINGTON – Two more defendants pleaded guilty in Milwaukee to charges of criminal copyright infringement as a result of their selling counterfeit software on eBay, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Steven M. Biskupic for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced.

Robert Koster of Jonesboro, Ark., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge J.P.Stadtmueller, and Yutaka Yamamoto of Pico Rivera, Calif., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman, to selling counterfeit Rockwell Automation computer software over the Internet. The software sold by the two defendants had a combined retail value of almost $6 million. Each defendant faces up to five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release. The defendants will be sentenced before Judge Stadtmueller in November 2007 along with four additional defendants who previously pleaded guilty in Milwaukee on April 26, 2007.

Rockwell Automation Inc. is a global provider of automation, power, control and information solutions. It produces, among other things, specialized factory management software. The majority of the software applications sold by these defendants on eBay had retail prices ranging from approximately $900 to $11,300. Rockwell Automation owns the registered copyrights to all Rockwell/Allen Bradley software and the copyright on the product’s packaging.

Koster admitted that from Sept. 4, 2003, through Sept. 14, 2004, he initiated 105 or more separate online auctions in which he sold copies of Rockwell Automation software on eBay for a personal profit exceeding $23,000. The actual retail value of this software was more than $5 million.

Yamamoto admitted that from Dec. 7, 2003, through Aug. 12, 2004, he initiated 92 or more separate online auctions in which he sold Rockwell Automation software on eBay for a personal profit exceeding $6,000. The actual retail value of this software was approximately
$543,000.