By Polly Raymond, 17 June 1999 00:15
NEWS A Texan software smuggler has been jailed in Germany for four years for importing illegal software worth £40m. In an investigation dating back to December 1996, law enforcers uncovered a counterfeit manufacturing plant in Cambridge run by the man, named as John-Joseph Staud. Several hundred thousand illegal copies of Microsoft Windows software, together with user manuals and registration cards, were shipped over to Germany, where customs officials picked up the trail. The conviction is one of the largest seen in terms of size of operation and sentence received, according to Microsoft. The firm's UK anti-piracy manager, David Gregory, said: "This is a significant blow to piracy in Europe and can only benefit the user, corporates and dealers." Steve Caunce, software marketing manager at reseller, Computacenter, said the hefty sentence is likely to dampen the existing black market in software: "It will certainly make the dealers involved in piracy will think twice before getting involved," he said.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below