Selling pirated software and CDs?

Question

My friend is really good at making CDs look authentic and has been selling them online. Recent news of the woman being put behind bars for the pinball p****y has worried me, surely there are some checks and balances to spot such activities and it is just a matter of time before amazon or ebay or someone catches him right?

Answer 1

How authentic?

If he is using trademarks illegally then he could get up to 10 years. Copyright also heavy penalties - also these are 'lifestyle' offences and the Proceeds of Crime legislation kicks in - could lose any property he cannot prove came from legitimate sources

Answer 2

depends how real they look.... if there good theres no reason why the buyers would show them to amazon... how many is he selling? if hes selling alot everyday someone may take an interest into where hes getting them all from an check it out. But generally its low risk

Answer 3

Is your friend's name Paul?

Answer 4

Is he selling the as 'genuine' copies or as 'replica' copies?

Either way getting caught will land him in deep s**t, I know of people getting fined thousands for this sort of thing. If these are being sold as replicas, then it's unlikely he will get reported by a buyer, if he's selling them as genuine then its likely someone will report him.

eBay would probably just ban him, but they may even take further action.

Tell him this and encourage him to stop because it's not worth getting caught.

Answer 5

Depends on how many he's making. If a lot, he should try going on Dragons' Den and seek seed-money. Quite an entrepreneur.  

Answer 6

The average time it takes to trace and detect someone making illegal copies of music and films is around 12 days it may take a bit longer for the authorities to doornock (here in uk) because they observe what the person is doing with the copies.This builds up evidence.

Your friend is pushing his luck because the new laws concerning p****y of this kind has been strengthened and when caught (not if) it will be a very hefty fine and a guaranteed prison term not exceeding five years for first offence.

Both Amazon and Ebay have signed an agreement with the UK and US governments to report this activity on their sites in fact,all the major download sites have agreed to report this if detected.

As I have said there will be an electronic record of all transactions done on these sites and there is a strong possibility that your friend has sold a copy to an investigator already.

Any fine imposed will be thousands not a few hundred because it goes on the fact of how many you could have sold not actually whats on record also,all equipment will be seized.

It will only be a matter of time before the visit.

Answer 7

he should stop...forget the money...its not worth it if he gets caught

Answer 8

Do you think your friend would do me a few copies,,, What did you say his address was ??

Answer 9

You should stop making illegal cds

Answer 10

Lets home someone does catch him as soon as possible.  Making a copy for yourself is one thing but profiting from breach of copyright is another thing entirely.

Your friend is one of the many reasons we pay more for our media goods.

Answer 11

He would be up for Federal charges if caught. That could mean doing some serious time!

If he is shipping then its going to be interstate commerce and involve the Postal Inspector,

Then he would also be charged with felony Federal Fraud charges,

He could easily get hitched with Federal money laundering charges, That would mean his house, car, bank account, everything could be seized by the Government. If others are involved or know about the crime then there could also be conspiracy which adds an automatic 10 years onto the sentence in Federal court.