Pair convicted in $6m piracy bust

Two men have pleaded guilty to selling more than $6m worth of pirated software on eBay. 

Robert Koster, of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Yutaka Yamamoto, from Pico Rivera, California, could face up to five years in prison for selling the counterfeit software.

Both men were part of a nine-strong ring that allegedly dealt in pirated software from Rockwell Automation, a vendor specialising in factory and manufacturing management software. 

The ring allegedly moved more than $30m in counterfeit software through eBay auctions.

Koster was accused of handling more than $5m of the $30m, netting an alleged profit of $23,000 in the course of one year.

Yamamoto was accused of selling $543,000 worth of pirated software in 92 auctions for an alleged $6,000 profit in the space of nine months.

Both men could also face fines of $250,000 and three years of supervised release.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) claimed that online sales of pirated software have "increased exponentially" in recent years.

The DoJ has made several large piracy busts in recent months, including that of a man who sold more than $750,000 worth of pirated Microsoft and Adobe software, and a fraud ring that cost Microsoft more than $60m in lost sales.

See also:

DrinkOrDie head goes down for 51 months

Courts throw the book at Hew Raymond Griffiths  26 Jun 2007

Sweden prosecutes its first P2P pirate

Both sides declare victory  13 Jun 2007

Man faces prison for 24 piracy

Four hours of video could net three years in prison  05 Jun 2007

Hackers turn to new genre of evasive attacks

Finjan report warns of malicious code 'affiliation networks'  04 Jun 2007

MPAA trains cinema ushers to catch pirates

Night vision goggles to seek out movie tapers  29 May 2007

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