From our front-page news:
It goes without saying that piracy of any sort is a huge issue, from movies to music to software, and sometimes, even to hardware. In the US and Canada though, we are well aware of what can happen to software pirates, as through the years, many have been carted off to prison for an uncomfortable sentence, even if they weren't selling the software, but only making it available.
One common conception though, is that China couldn't care less about the piracy issue in their country, but stories leaking out now contradict those beliefs. Just last week, a Shenzhen court handed out 11 penalties to people tied to a sophisticated counterfeit ring that's existed for years. They mass-produced Microsoft software, specifically it seems, and distributed it around the world - not just China.
The sentences are somewhat modest, ranging between 18 months to 6 years, but the move should take a nice chunk out of piracy in China, and maybe other parts of the world... at least for a little while. Microsoft is quoted as being very pleased with the sentences, and they should be, since supposedly, they are the stiffest ones ever handed out.
The counterfeit products produced were of such high quality that they were difficult to tell from authentic software. The counterfeit goods were packaged in similar packaging and even had counterfeit Microsoft authenticity certificates. The counterfeit ring produces software like Windows XP and Office 2007 and was broken up in July of 2007 according to The New York Times.
Source: DailyTech
One common conception though, is that China couldn't care less about the piracy issue in their country, but stories leaking out now contradict those beliefs. Just last week, a Shenzhen court handed out 11 penalties to people tied to a sophisticated counterfeit ring that's existed for years. They mass-produced Microsoft software, specifically it seems, and distributed it around the world - not just China.
The sentences are somewhat modest, ranging between 18 months to 6 years, but the move should take a nice chunk out of piracy in China, and maybe other parts of the world... at least for a little while. Microsoft is quoted as being very pleased with the sentences, and they should be, since supposedly, they are the stiffest ones ever handed out.
The counterfeit products produced were of such high quality that they were difficult to tell from authentic software. The counterfeit goods were packaged in similar packaging and even had counterfeit Microsoft authenticity certificates. The counterfeit ring produces software like Windows XP and Office 2007 and was broken up in July of 2007 according to The New York Times.
Source: DailyTech